In fact, all that is required is for government contracts tendered through SNC-Lavalin to be known publicly. This way, professionals could offer their services. This is how the Government of Quebec proceeds. They ask companies to register in the field in which they are specialized. When contracts are offered, these companies are called to tender for these contracts and to state what price they would charge. When a company is chosen, the names of the other companies are kept in the database and the name of the winning company is removed. The next contract is then offered to the remaining companies and so on and so forth until the hat is empty. Then, you put all the names back in the hat and the process starts all over again. This ensures fairness. You ensure that all companies obtain contracts and the costs are always reasonable.
On April 26th, 2010. See this statement in context.