The Autorité des marchés publics (AMP): What Your SME Needs to Know

Marc runs a 12-person consulting engineering firm. He just spotted a major public contract, exactly in his niche, several million dollars over five years. Reading the documents, one sentence stops him: "The tenderer must hold an authorization to contract issued by the Autorité des marchés publics as of the date its bid is submitted." Marc doesn't have one. And the closing date is three weeks away.

The AMP comes up everywhere in public procurement, but stays poorly understood: what it is, when it concerns you directly, and what to do, whether you need an authorization or you want to challenge an unfair process.

What the AMP is, and why it exists

The AMP grew out of a recommendation from the Charbonneau Commission on the awarding of public contracts in construction. The act was assented to on December 1, 2017; the oversight powers came into force in stages, on January 25, 2019 and then May 25, 2019.

In practice, the AMP plays four roles that can affect you:

1. It issues the authorization to contract: the "permit" required for large public contracts.
2. It verifies the integrity of businesses and maintains the RENA, the register of enterprises ineligible for public contracts.
3. It handles complaints from businesses about call-for-tenders processes.
4. It monitors, verifies and investigates, and can issue orders (provincial bodies) or recommendations (municipal bodies).

The authorization to contract: who needs it, how to get it

This is the part of the AMP that most directly affects SMEs going after large contracts.

Who needs it. Any business that wants to enter into a public contract or subcontract whose spending reaches the thresholds set by the government must hold an authorization to contract. At the time of writing, those thresholds are:

When. For a public call for tenders, you must hold the authorization as of the date your bid is submitted, not at contract signing. That's Marc's trap: the authorization doesn't come through in a few days.

What it costs. Fees apply to the application, including $270 for each person or entity subject to the integrity check (officers, directors, shareholders or entities that control the business). This fee is indexed: check the current amount on the AMP's fees page.

How long it's valid. A major recent change: since April 2, 2026, the authorization to contract is valid for an indefinite period: no more periodic renewal of the authorization. In return, the business must meet its ongoing obligations, including the annual update of its information with the AMP.

The integrity check: what the AMP examines

Before issuing an authorization, the AMP assesses the business's integrity. It can check the directors, partners, officers and shareholders, along with any person or entity that exercises, directly or indirectly, control over the business.

To do this, the AMP cross-references information from several partners: the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ), the Régie du bâtiment (RBQ), the Registraire des entreprises (REQ) and Revenu Québec.

Businesses judged ineligible are listed in the RENA (register of enterprises ineligible for public contracts): as of March 31, 2025, it held 2,218 of them. A RENA listing closes off access to public contracts for the period set by law.

Filing a complaint: first the body, then the AMP

The other reason to know the AMP: it's your recourse when the conditions of a public call for tenders look unfair to you (conditions tailored to a competitor, disproportionate requirements, unreasonable deadlines). But the process follows an order imposed by law, and missing it costs you the recourse.

Step 1: the complaint to the public body. Every public body must have adopted a procedure for receiving and examining complaints (section 21.0.3 of the Act respecting contracting by public bodies). Your complaint is submitted electronically to the designated official, on the form determined by the AMP, no later than the complaint-reception deadline stated in the notice published on SEAO. A copy is sent to the AMP without delay, but for information only: it does not constitute the formal complaint. As a general rule, this deadline falls at the midpoint of the bid-reception period, without being less than ten days, and the complaint bears on the documents available on SEAO no later than two days before that deadline.

The body's decision. The body issues its decision after the complaint-reception deadline, but no later than three days before the bid-reception deadline, keeping a minimum of seven days between its decision and that deadline (postponing the deadline if needed). It must inform you of your right to bring the matter to the AMP.

Step 2: the formal complaint to the AMP. If you disagree with the body's decision, your complaint must be received by the AMP no later than 3 days after you receive that decision (section 37 of the Act respecting the Autorité des marchés publics). If the deadline falls on a holiday, it is carried to the next business day; Saturday, January 2 and December 26 are treated as holidays for this calculation.

Particular routes exist. If the body has not sent you any decision three days before the bid-reception deadline, you may bring the matter to the AMP directly, no later than that deadline (section 39). If a late change is made to the call-for-tenders documents, a direct complaint to the AMP is possible, no later than two days before the bid-reception deadline (section 40).

Processing by the AMP. The AMP first checks whether the complaint is admissible, then asks the body for its observations. From the time it receives them, it has 14 days to render a reasoned decision, sent in writing to the complainant and the body; if the complexity of the questions raised requires it, it sets an additional period. Failing a decision by the end of that period, the process is deemed compliant, solely with respect to the elements raised in the complaint (section 49).

Once its review is complete, the AMP can declare the process compliant, order a correction or order the cancellation of the process.

At the municipal level, the mechanism is the same, set out in sections 115 to 124 of the Act respecting contracting by municipal bodies: a prior complaint to the body on the AMP's form, no later than the deadline stated on SEAO, the body's decision, then recourse to the AMP within 3 days of receiving it. One particularity to know: when the AMP steps in following an audit or investigation of a municipal body, its decision takes the form of a recommendation to the body's council, not an order.

Mutual-agreement contracts announced by a notice of intention follow their own sequence. When a body publishes a notice of intention to enter into a contract by mutual agreement, notably on public-interest grounds, a business that considers itself able to carry out the contract first submits its expression of interest to the body, electronically, no later than five days before the planned conclusion date. The body issues its decision at least seven days before conclusion. If you disagree, the complaint must be received by the AMP within 3 days of receiving the decision (section 38). If the AMP is of the view that the complainant is able to carry out the contract according to the needs and obligations stated in the notice, it can order the body not to act on its intention; if the body still wishes to enter into the contract, it then proceeds by public call for tenders.

What the AMP does, in numbers

To show this isn't theoretical: according to the AMP's 2023-2024 annual report, out of 7,084 calls for tenders reviewed, 870 (12%) contained at least one non-compliance. The correction rate reached 95%, up 14 points from the previous year. In other words, in the vast majority of flagged cases, the body fixes the problem.

The AMP also publishes its decisions and recommendations: it has already stepped in publicly against departments and bodies over failures of transparency or fair treatment of competitors. Those decisions can be consulted on its website.

Immediate action

If you're going after contracts of $1M (services) or $5M (construction) and up: don't wait until you've found the call for tenders. Check right now that your information is up to date with the REQ, Revenu Québec and the RBQ, then file your authorization-to-contract application with the AMP. It's a time investment to make up front, not in the three weeks before a closing date.

If a process underway looks unfair to you: first find the complaint-reception deadline on the SEAO notice, that's what governs. The complaint is filed with the public body, on the AMP's form; the AMP can only be brought in afterward, within 3 days of receiving the body's decision.

To go further: How to bid on a public tender: the 7 steps and Contracts by mutual agreement in Québec.

Sources

• Act respecting the Autorité des marchés publics (CQLR, c. A-33.2.1), LégisQuébec.
• Act respecting contracting by public bodies (CQLR, c. C-65.1), ss. 21.0.3 and 21.0.4; Act respecting the Autorité des marchés publics (CQLR, c. A-33.2.1), ss. 37 to 50; Act respecting contracting by municipal bodies (CQLR, c. C-65.01), ss. 115 to 124, LégisQuébec.
• Autorité des marchés publics, Mission, Authorization to contract, Thresholds and categories, Integrity and RENA, Filing a complaint (amp.quebec, consulted 2026-05-31).
• Autorité des marchés publics, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 annual activity reports.
• Revenu Québec, AMP authorization for entering into public contracts or subcontracts (revenuquebec.ca).