16(1)Where the Crown does not require a bid bond under subsection 15(3), the Crown shall, if the estimated contract value is five thousand dollars or greater, require a bid security deposit which shall be in the form of
(a)
a certified cheque made payable to
(i)
the Minister of Finance and Treasury Board of the Province, or
(ii)
if the contract is to be awarded by a corporation or agency set out in subsection 2(2), such corporation or agency, or
(b)
negotiable securities in bearer form having a current market value at the time of tender equal to or greater than the amount of security deposit required.
16(2)Where the Crown does not require a bid bond under subsection 15(3), the Crown, if the estimated contract value is less than five thousand dollars, may, in the information supplied to bidders,
(a)
stipulate that a bid security deposit as set forth in subsection (1) shall be deposited with the tender, or
(b)
stipulate that a bid security deposit is not required, in which case the tender shall not be rejected as a valid submission of tender solely due to the absence of a bid security deposit.
16(3)Where negotiable securities are used as a bid security deposit under subsection (1), they shall consist of one or more of the following forms:
(a)
bonds, debentures or securities of the Government of Canada or of the Government of any Province of Canada;
(b)
bonds or debentures of a corporation, if payment of the bonds or debentures is guaranteed both as to principal and interest by Canada or any province of Canada, by a local government of this Province or by Opportunities New Brunswick;
(c)
bonds or debentures of any local government of this Province;
(c.1)
Repealed: 2017, c.20, s.48
(d)
guaranteed trust or investment certificates or receipts of a trust company that is incorporated under the laws of Canada or of a Province of Canada and approved by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council under the
Trust Companies Act;
(e)
deposit receipts, deposit notes, certificates of deposit, acceptances and other similar instruments issued by or endorsed by a Canadian chartered bank, when such receipts, notes, certificates, acceptances and instruments are made in such manner that both the Crown and the tenderer are named payees therein and the Crown may call for redemption thereof, provided that the term thereof is not less than the estimated completion date of the contract being tendered with no restriction on early redemption other than as may be stipulated by way of reduced interest payable in the event of redemption prior to maturity; or
(f)
irrevocable standby letter of credit set out in Form 1, issued by or endorsed by any of the following persons, within the meaning of the
Canadian Payments Act (Canada):
(i)
a bank or an authorized foreign bank,
(ii)
a loan company or trust company that is a member of the Canadian Payments Association, or
(iii)
a local cooperative credit society that is a member of a central that is a member of the Canadian Payments Association.
16(4)Where the Crown requires a bid security deposit under the section, the tender documents shall stipulate the amount of the bid security deposit.
16(5)Where, notwithstanding subsection (1), a tenderer has submitted a bid bond when a bid security deposit was required by the Crown in accordance with this section, the submission of the bid bond shall not be a cause for rejection of submission of tender provided that the bid bond submitted meets the requirements of subsection 15(4).
2005-60; 2008-94; 2010, c.31, s.29; 2015, c.2, s.62; 2017, c.20, s.48; 2019, c.29, s.40