When I wrote that memo, I had been asked to justify the decision to remain at Place Victoria even though we had signed a lease with Place Bonaventure. I refused to do so because, according to the information I had at the time, the rent would be 430 $ per square meter. I could not see how I could justify selecting the fourth bidder when the others had offered a better rate than Place Victoria.
Then, there were negotiations and I believe they were concluded around mid-May, that is to say about 10 to 15 days after my writing that memo. That's when I was informed that the client had changed the requirement. I wrote the ministerial memo a bit later — sometime in June I believe — explaining the decision with a rent of 308 $ per square meter. However, at that time, we were not dealing with the same requirement at Place Victoria as during the call for tenders. In the lease signed with Place Victoria, the moving costs, the fit-up costs, all the IT costs, the swing spaces and so on had been withdrawn. Also, the rent had been cut by about 120 $ per square meter following a negotiation led by the rental officers. So, the facts were not the same as when I wrote the first memo.