Jim Watson enjoys the first LRT ride during the LRT launch, September 14, 2019.
Mayor Jim Watson is showing no concern over the observations recorded by technical experts who reviewed SNC-Lavalin’s winning bid to expand the Trillium Line, while another councillor is calling for a public inquiry.
“The city’s auditor general, an independent officer, conducted an extensive review of the Stage 2 procurement process and found that the city followed all its procurement rules and policies,” Watson said in a statement sent by his press secretary Livia Belcea on Friday.
“A fairness commissioner was also actively involved since the beginning; they provided an independent overview throughout to ensure the fairness of the process and signed off on it. I have full confidence in the city’s auditor general and in his thorough review of the procurement process. I trust that this procurement process was conducted fairly and respect the auditor general’s work in ensuring it followed best practices.”
The city this week released more details about the technical evaluations of the Trillium Line expansion bids.
The documents show the multiple “weaknesses” the technical evaluation team flagged on SNC-Lavalin’s proposal, whose technical mark was below a scoring threshold.
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“Unanimous consensus that the proposal should not be considered further in the evaluation process,” the technical evaluation team concluded.
However, the city kept SNC-Lavalin’s proposal in the contract competition for undisclosed legal reasons. The company’s low technical score, combined with its high financial score, still put the company at the top of the rankings and council approved the contract with a 19-3 vote.
One councillor whose ward is home to a section of the Trillium Line wants an independent investigation.
“It is startling to read the lucid staff descriptions of the SNC bid, knowing that our senior leadership ultimately accepted that submission,” Capital Coun. Shawn Menard said.
“I voted against Stage 2 LRT precisely because I was concerned about the procurement and rush to make a decision. My fears have now been confirmed and Ottawa deserves nothing less than an independent public inquiry on this matter.”
Gloucester-South Nepean Coun. Carol Anne Meehan, whose ward will have the southern terminus of the Trillium Line extension, said she was “dismayed” by what she read in the evaluation documents. She voted in favour of awarding the Stage 2 contracts.
“Our procurement is totally bungled and we have to start going back and start asking serious questions about going with the cheapest bid all the time,” Meehan said.
Meehan said council needs to be careful of the authority it delegates city staff and audit the construction work of Stage 2 as it happens.
“If we don’t get some answers, then we all should be fired,” Meehan said. “Seriously.”
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