The collective ACEC (national together with the provinces) has an opportunity, on behalf of our members across the country, to stand up to an intolerable and punitive practice used by some clients.

We can help put an end to “reprisal clauses” whereby municipalities (and other public agencies) can prevent engineering firms and contractors from participating in future procurement opportunities if they are or have been engaged in either litigation or alternative dispute resolution (ADR) with that municipality.

The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) is undertaking a court challenge against reprisal clauses.  CCA is suggesting the clause is unconstitutional (illegal) and is trying to obtain a court decision indicating this. It is seeking ACEC’s help to collect affidavits from consulting engineers that have been subject to or threatened by such reprisals by clients. ACEC is specifically seeking 2 types of affidavits:

• Category 1: contractors/engineers who have been blacklisted under a Reprisal Clause.
• Category 2: contractors/engineers who have chosen not to exercise their right to access the courts because they fear the application of the Reprisal Clause.

See sample templates to assist with creating your affidavit. The templates are guidelines that should be reworded to suit the specific scenario/evidence of what happened in each particular situation.  An editable Word Document template file is available from ACEC-SK upon request:  info@acec-sk.ca or 306.359.3338.

ACEC-Canada requires the completed affidavits no later than Monday, March 13th.  Please forward them directly to John Gamble, President & CEO of ACEC via email to jgamble@acec.ca.