Michael Lewis
Special to Ontario Construction News staff writer
Montreal-headquartered global consulting firm WSP Canada Inc. faces a possible suspension from bidding on Toronto projects in the wake of the city’s lawsuit claiming WSP design errors caused an eight-month delay in Gardiner Expressway rehabilitation work.
Toronto’s government committee on April 7 approved a motion by Ward 24 Scarborough-Guildwood Coun. Paul Ainslie directing staff to report to city council’s meeting starting April 23 on whether WSP “should be suspended from being eligible to bid on or be awarded any City of Toronto contracts as a supplier of goods and/or services or as a subcontractor to such a supplier and, if so, for how long.”
The action comes after the city in February filed a statement of claim in Ontario Superior Court alleging that WSP, which was contracted to provide preliminary design for rehabilitation of section 1 from Jarvis Street to Cherry Street, committed design errors that led to “numerous change orders and directives to the construction contractor.”
The claim says the errors were addressed during construction but added costs to rectify and to accelerate the section work, which was completed “more than eight months late” in June 2021.
City staff in a report to the government committee said remediation orders included:
- Changes to the WSP design to add necessary lapping distance for the horizontal section of vertical reinforcement of bearing pedestals, as well as necessary anchor pockets in masonry plates;
- Changes to the WSP design resulting in additional shear studs at end diaphragms and additional 25M stainless steel bars at flexible slabs, made after the contractor had already commenced steel girder fabrication.
- Changes to the WSP design to increase the fillet welds from 8mm to 10mm for the installation of new bearing pedestals associated with the rehabilitation of several steel bents.
The city’s lawsuit claims at least $36 million to recover costs it alleges were incurred due to the design errors. It says the city spent $33.2 million in increased payments to the contractor due to design issues including about $20 million to accelerate the project and about $10 million in seasonal expenses brought on by winter work.
The city also estimates that it lost $3 million in extra costs so city staff could oversee the work and in payments to external consultants and lawyers, as well as the general loss to the city of having the downtown expressway partially closed longer than expected. “Despite requests, WSP has failed to or refused to compensate the city,” says the city’s claim.
The lawsuit has not been tested in court and a spokesperson for the firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment, although notice to defend the suit has been filed on the company’s behalf by a Toronto-based construction lawyer.
The consideration of bid disqualification for WSP follows a five-year bidding suspension imposed by Toronto on Mississauga-based contractor Duron Ontario Ltd. over its alleged $161,000 overbilling on accessibility projects.
The ban was approved by city council at its meeting in late March, despite a deposition by Carmen Principato, business manager for Labourers’ International Union of North America, Local 506 in Toronto, that said the lengthy suspension would “effectively eliminate Duron’s main line of business and almost certainly lead to layoffs.”
While council approved the suspension it also directed staff “to review any impacts resulting from [the] decision … on unionized construction workers…”
