Background

From time to time, CAUT Council or its committees may wish to contract with an individual or individuals for specific projects. Normally, all work undertaken by CAUT comes under the appropriate CAUT Budget item and is administered by the Executive Director under the direction of the Executive Committee. When Council or a committee requires a special project that cannot be performed by CAUT staff and is not covered by the CAUT budget approved by Council, the following guidelines will apply.

1
Sole Source Contracts

(a) The Executive Committee is authorized to award honoraria of no more than $10,00 for special projects which are small in scope. The executive may award such contracts to individuals or companies without advertising the project if it deems the person or company to possess special expertise needed to carry out the project. In such cases, the Executive Committee shall state the reasons for sole sourcing as part of the contract. Alternatively, the Executive Committee may decide to solicit proposals for the project using whatever procedures it deems appropriate.

2
Requests for Proposals (RFPs)

(a) If the project requires a professional service contract over $10,000, the Executive shall issue a request for proposals from parties who may have expertise relevant to the project. The Executive Committee shall describe the nature of the project and the qualifications and expertise needed to carry it out successfully.

(b) The RFP will specify the nature and scope of the project and provide a time schedule for completion of specific tasks. The RFP will request interested parties to provide a curriculum vitae, the names of three referees, a brief description of the methods to be used in completing the project, and a schedule of payment.

(c) RFPs will be advertised in ways that the Executive Committee deems to be appropriate. The advertisement shall contain a deadline when all submissions must be received by the CAUT office in Ottawa.

(d) A subcommittee of the Executive Committee will rank completed RFPs that are received by the advertised deadline. The ranking of the RFPs shall be based on criteria developed by the subcommittee and approved by the Executive prior to review of the RFPs.

(e) The subcommittee shall make a recommendation to the Executive Committee for awarding a contract on the basis of the ranked RFPs, but it may also recommend not to pursue the project at this point. While costs of the contract are an important consideration, the contract need not be awarded to the lowest bidder. The Executive Committee shall award the contract.

(f) If no expressions of interest (or written proposals) are received, the subcommittee may seek individuals qualified to conduct the project, subject to the advice of the Executive Committee.

Adopted by the CAUT Council, May 1989;
Revised, November 1994,
Revised November 2002;
Editorial Revisions, February 2024.