The sustainable development questionnaire and our practical guide
The SD questionnaire is now included as a valuation criterion in most tender calls pertaining to goods and services.
The SD questionnaire includes 16 questions about the bidders’ practices regarding:
- Sustainability governance
- Environment
- Social responsibility
Consult the content of the SD assessment questionnaire [PDF 160 kB]
Answer choices
Each question addresses a specific SD theme and includes a range of possible answers reflecting current best practices in the field, with certain practices corresponding more to certain types of companies than others. Therefore, it is not necessary to select all the possible answers in order to obtain all the points for a given question. Generally, selecting two or three possible answers for a question is enough to obtain all the available points. The maximum score per question is indicated under each question, just before the list of possible answers in the above PDF document.
Important notes:
- Most of the questions require supporting documents that will be validated by the external partner. Consult the toolkit to know which supporting documents are required and the associated validation criteria.
- A practical guide has been developed to help you understand and fill out the questionnaire. The guide is available further down on this page—you may find it useful!
Valuation criterion
Given that the SD questionnaire is currently a valuation criterion, submitting the validated SD assessment report is optional. Bidders who do not submit the report will obtain a score of 0 for this criterion. This, however, does not prevent Hydro‑Québec from continuing to analyze their bid.
However, for several reasons, we strongly recommend that you fill out this questionnaire:
- Based on the score they receive, suppliers will be able to improve their bid;
- By filling out the questionnaire, bidders can find ways to improve their sustainable development practices.
- Preparing for the future—in 2026, this questionnaire could become an eligibility criterion for certain markets. What’s more, more and more contractors—both public and private—will begin to evaluate their suppliers on this criterion in the months and years to come.
Supplier sustainable development guide
We developed this new practical guide to help you:
- Learn more about sustainable development;
- Better understand the notions and best practices referred to in our questionnaire;
- Identify the measures you can take to improve your practices.
You’ll also find various resources that could help you gradually adopt best practices that are increasingly sought after by contractors in Québec and elsewhere.
We encourage you to consult the information and resources it contains to improve your environmental and social performance and increase your chances of obtaining contracts.

Sustainable development: Right this way!
It is essential to review this guide in Adobe Reader to access all the interactivity features.
Download the sustainability guide for suppliers