Private health placement agencies banned from Quebec public contracts
Six health-care worker placement agencies are no longer eligible for Quebec public contracts for the next five years, RadioCanada is reporting.
According to information from the Autorité des marchés publics (AMP) ob‐ tained by Radio-Canada, the agencies are now registered with the Registre des entre‐ prises non admissibles aux contrats publics (RENA) be‐ cause they do not meet in‐ tegrity requirements.
The AMP oversees public contracts in Quebec. More than 2,400 companies are currently banned from con‐ tracting with the govern‐ ment.
Several major agencies that provided hundreds of nurses and orderlies to hos‐ pitals and CHSLDs in Quebec are among the list of ineligi‐ ble companies.
After the AMP conducted audits, it found that three companies - 24/7 Expertise en Soins de Santé Inc., 92724095 Québec Inc. and 91592634 Québec Inc., doing busi‐ ness under the name Confort Élite - had, through their re‐ spective managers, partici‐ pated in a scheme to submit strategically defined prices with the aim of encouraging an award and award of con‐ tracts favourable to them.
Three companies that submitted bids, namely 9423-8714 Québec Inc., Siloé Inc. and AGREPPRO Inc. (a re‐ cruitment and placement agency for professionals), were subject to another in‐ tegrity audit and were regis‐ tered with RENA.
Calls to eliminate pri‐ vate placement agencies from health network
A contract awarded in June 2023 by the Centre d'ac‐ quisitions gouvernementales (CAG) for independent nursing and assistance work‐ ers raised a flag for auditors.
The six-month contract in‐ cluded three, six-month re‐ newal options through 2025. Its total value was $700 mil‐ lion.
Following the AMP deci‐ sion, the six suppliers have 60 days in principle to cease execution of their current contracts in the public net‐ work.
The management of 24/7 Expertise plans to challenge the AMP decision.
"In the last few hours, the AMP informed us of its inten‐ tion to register our company with RENA," company man‐ agers said by email to RadioCanada.
Réjean Leclerc, president of the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSSCSN), said the private sec‐ tor's lack of integrity in the public health and social ser‐ vices network is well known and documented.
"We must quickly elimi‐ nate all private agencies from the public network, recover the colossal sums which fi‐ nance their profits in order to reinvest in our public estab‐ lishments to attract and re‐ tain staff," he added.
In January, another $1-bil‐ lion call for tenders aimed at recruiting nurses, orderlies and other healthcare person‐ nel from private agencies was temporarily suspended by the AMP.
The Health Ministry wants to gradually eliminate the use of private worker place‐ ment agencies by the fall of 2026.
During the study of budget appropriations for health on Tuesday, Health Minister Christian Dubé re‐ ported that maximum rates have been in effect since this week.
"No need to tell you that there are people who are not happy," Dubé said.
"Private agencies chal‐ lenged us in the call for ten‐ ders, did everything to delay the process, a legal process which was very complex," he said, answering Québec Sol‐ idaire health critic Vincent Marissal.
In the meantime, contrac‐ ts are awarded to meet the needs.
In January, La Presse pub‐ lished an investigation on collusion between private agencies.