R. v. Ron Engineering and Construction (Eastern) Ltd

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R. v. Ron Engineering and Construction (Eastern) Ltd. (1981), 119 DLR (3d) 267. (SCC) is the leading Supreme Court of Canada decision on the law of tendering for contracts. The case concerned the issue of whether the acceptance of a call for tenders for a construction job could constitute a binding contract. The Court held that indeed in many cases the submission of an offer in response to a call for tenders constitutes a contract separate from the eventual contract for the construction. With the release of the decision, the tendering process practiced in Canada was fundamentally changed.

[edit] Background

A call for tenders was sent out requiring a deposit of $150,000 which would be lost if the tendered offer was withdrawn. Ron Engineering submitted an offer along with the deposit, however, discovered the amount to be wrong and tried to have the offer changed. The change was refused and the contract was given to another company. Ron Engineering sued to get their deposit back.