Councillor calls for purchasing policy review after irregularities surface in transit terminal bids

Ward 1 Coun. Sandra Hollingsworth is asking for a review of city purchasing policy after irregularities occurred during the awarding of engineering work involved in relocating the downtown transit terminal to 111 Huron St.

"I think the whole process needs to be reviewed," Hollingsworth said as City Council voted this week to award the $236,000 design, planning tendering and contract administration job to local firms IDEA Inc. and Tulloch Engineering.

As SooToday reported last weekend, two other local firms – David Ellis Architect and IBI Group – similarly submitted a joint proposal.

But both bids were delivered after the Oct. 18 deadline established by the city's purchasing department and were rejected without being opened.

"When they are late... they are considered an irregular bid," said Shelley Schell, chief financial officer and city treasurer.

"In this case, when both bids are late, there is no bid. We can use a non-competitive method to review and award the tender," Schell said.

"Are we gong to set a precedent that we will accept bids after the date and time," asked Ward 4 Coun. Marchy Bruni. "Shouldn't this go back out for bidding?"

"My understanding is that this is the second time the RFP [request for proposals] went out," Schell responded. "The first time it received absolutely no bids on it."

"The second time, it was irregular that both of them were late. Normally when we receive an irregular bid, there's usually other bidders that are available that we can evaluate."

"It was an odd circumstance with this one," Schell said.

"I'm still struggling with this explanation," commented Ward 1 Coun. Paul Christian. "To the viewing public and even to myself, it sounds like a meeting was held behind closed doors and a decision was made."

Schell insisted staff followed the city's purchasing policy.

"We are allowed through the policy to use the non-competitive method, which means that we can negotiate with the two parties, which was done," she said.

"We looked at both bids that came in, and we used our evaluation criteria to review both in the same fashion we would if it was normal," said Brent Lamming, director of community services.

"We have seven sets of criteria that are utilized."

In this case, Lamming said, those criteria included:

• compliance to the requirements that were put forth in the RFP
• understanding of those requirements
• experience of the proponents
• the solution provided
• the references provided
• the timeline
• the pricing

"So it was a fulsome review like we normally would complete," Lamming said.

The city has at least six vendors of record that could have submitted bids but interest was only expressed by two, he said.

Christian suggested that should a similar situation arise in the future, a better explanation from city staff might alleviate public concerns.

Ward 4 Coun. Rick Niro asked why there didn't seem to be a lot of interest in the contract.

Mayor Christian Provenzano replied that smaller jobs like this one aren't as attractive to bidders.

"There's a ton of pressure in the market right now," the mayor said. "The consultants that are doing this work, they're real busy."

"We're seeing this in other projects as well," added chief administrative officer Malcolm White. "They are very, very busy. I think they're seeing some of the same crunches as we're seeing with business throughout the community, not being able to have enough staff on."

Ward 2 Coun. Luke Dufour, who works for a local builder, confirmed that quite a few building tenders are being reissued "a few times" to get a more competitive price.

"Being in the construction business, I do appreciate everyone is absolutely swamped," Coun. Hollingsworth said.

"But I am disappointed at just two bids."

"I feel that maybe the process should be reviewed. The only reason I say that, even before COVID, in my previous council terms, sometimes we're only had two bids, or even one bid, or three bids. I can't say it's only due to COVID," Hollingsworth said.

Supporting the IDEA/Tulloch bid at Monday night's City Council meeting were:

• Ward 1 Coun. Paul Christian
• Ward 1 Coun. Sandra Hollingsworth
• Ward 2 Coun. Luke Dufour
• Ward 2 Coun. Lisa Vezeau-Allen
• Ward 3 Coun. Donna Hilsinger
• Ward 4 Coun. Marchy Bruni
• Ward 5 Coun. Corey Gardi  
• Mayor Christian Provenzano

Voting against the IDEA/Tulloch bid were:

• Ward 4 Coun. Rick Niro
• Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Shoemaker
• Ward 5 Coun. Matthew Scott

Coun. Shoemaker explained he has repeatedly voted against motions related to relocating the downtown bus terminal five blocks west from Queen Street East and Dennis. 

The controversial terminal relocation got the go-ahead from City Council on July 12, 2021.

The project will bring together all Sault Transit operations under one roof at the existing Huron Street bus barn and administrative complex.

The relocation is expected to cost about $2 million.