By Mark Buckshon
Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of Ottawa’s decision to sole-source the design and construction of a new “sprung structure” for the Newcomer Reception Centre has sparked outrage among local construction groups.
The Ottawa Construction Association (OCA) and the General Contractors Association of Ottawa (GCAO) have sent a letter to Mayor Mark Sutcliffe expressing their “dismay” over the city’s plan to award the $15-million contract to BLT Construction Services (BLTCS), a Toronto-based contractor.
The associations argue that the city’s decision is unfair to local businesses and that the two-week response period for the Advanced Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is inadequate for bidders to assemble serious proposals.
“The reality is that local bidders understand that internally, city staff have already declared their chosen path with a sprung structure by BLTCS,” the letter said.
The OCA and GCAO are calling on the city to cancel the ACAN and put out a request for proposals (RFP) to the local construction industry.
“The only reasonable remedy to this unfortunate situation is for the city to reboot the procurement process entirely,” the letter said.
The associations also expressed concern about the city’s reliance on a market assessment that concluded that no local contractors are capable of designing and supplying a pre-engineered structure on a condensed timeline.
“It’s profoundly insulting to the abilities of the local industry that the city has relied on a consultant’s market assessment that concludes that there are no local contractors capable of designing and building the proposed sprung structure,” the letter said.
The OCA and GCAO have requested that the market assessment be released immediately in the interests of transparency.
City defends decision
The City of Ottawa has defended its decision to short-circuit the contract, saying it needs to move quickly to deal with a homelessness emergency.
“This isn’t sole-sourcing,” said Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper, who chairs council’s planning and housing committee. “It is a very short procurement. But again, when we’re addressing emergencies, the city needs to be nimble,” he said in an interview broadcast by CBC-TV.
Leiper said that companies familiar with Sprung structures should be able to write up a proposal within the two-week window, which he called “not an insignificant amount of time.”
Local contractors insist they can do the job
Local contractors insist they are more than capable of delivering what the city is asking for.
“We basically feel like we’ve been bypassed,” said Michael Assal, president of Taplen Commercial Construction, a local firm that has put up three Sprung structures for the Department of National Defence.
Assal said that while the DND Sprung structures were for material storage and workspaces, Ottawa has qualified firms that can meet the city’s requirements.
“It’s not rocket science,” he said. “It just takes some attention to detail,” he said in a CBC-TV interview.
Concerns about transparency
John DeVries, president and general manager of the Ottawa Construction Association, said the reaction in the local industry has been negative, with some firms feeling “insulted.”
DeVries expects that few companies will go through the trouble of submitting proposals now, when it seems the city has already made up its mind.
“People who are looking at it are feeling, to be blunt, the fix is in,” he said.
DeVries has called on the city to press reset on the process and launch a fully open competition with a request for expressions of interest.
He said that would give the city more options and “the full benefits of competition.”
The City of Ottawa has set a one-year timeline for its newcomer reception centre.
DeVries said he believes an Ottawa contractor could design and build a Sprung structure before next winter, even after an extra few months for procurement.
