Mr. Speaker, today I want to talk about perceived fairness or, I should say, the lack thereof in a recent awarding of a bundled contract of five water treatment plants by the Department of MACA.
An unsuccessful bidder who has documented a number of strange coincidences has contacted me. What they have noted would lead any reasonable person to question whether this was an actual RFP or merely an exercise to ensure that MACA’s preferred contractor was awarded these contracts.
A brief backgrounder. MACA realized that the escalating cost might mean delaying some of the five water treatment plants on their capital plan. To their credit, MACA started looking at an innovative solution to ensure that all five water plants were examined so they could be built with one design and by one contractor. So, Mr. Speaker, a good approach from MACA.
I’m sure you’re asking: who is the perceived contractor? To do this, they hired a southern Canada firm, from Abbotsford, B.C., to be exact, and they had determined the work could be done. This same firm presented to the five communities a preferred solution and approach in the presentation made by MACA in April of 2007. Mr. Speaker, this sad sonnet will continue with this firm; you’ll hear more about it later.
After an expression of interest in August 2007 two contracting groups qualified to respond to the request for proposal issued and finalized in November 2007. The unsuccessful consortium, both well-known and respected Northern-based firms with decades of experience in the North, and after spending a considerable amount of time, money and investment, were advised that their proposal could have been stronger for the case in the areas of operations, warranty options and support options. Mr. Speaker, how local do you have to get?
This leads me to believe that the cost of this competition was not the problem. Here we have a southern contractor — they’re back again, Mr. Speaker — who defines the feasibility of the scope of the project, works closely with MACA on the project and may, for all I know, have assisted in the design of the parameters of this contract being awarded to them.
Mr. Speaker, may I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement?
Unanimous consent granted.
Mr. Speaker, did anyone from MACA phone the unsuccessful proponent to clarify these areas of concern, that we had a southern-based contractor working with these communities on individual contracts? And by the way, they may even be involved in the contract RFP call. Who knows? Probably the answer is no.
The concerns are related to this process, Mr. Speaker, and they indeed deserve an explanation.
The fact is that this Northern company, this Northern consortium, wouldn’t reconsider even bothering to respond to this request for proposal, knowing very well the fact that this southern company from Abbotsford, B.C., was involved early on in this project.
