A somewhat messy tender process for the Dekker Centre for the Performing Arts is finally behind North Battleford, as APM Construction Services Inc. was awarded the construction contract for the theatre component and site work for the complex.
The tender was awarded to the Charlottetown-based firm at a special afternoon meeting of council Wednesday. APM Construction beat out eight other bidders from across Canada with a price of $13,060,704 plus taxes.
That was the original tender price submitted by APM when all tender bids were opened up June 10 for phase one of the Credit Union CU Plex, which includes the theatre as well as the site work including the public square and the parking lot.
City Manager Jim Toye said the architect Barr Ryder will contact APM to let them know they have been awarded the contract, and it is hoped they will be on the site in the next couple of weeks.
The unanimous vote to award the contract to APM wraps up a tender process for the theatre that threatened to get out of control.
The problems began shortly after the tender bids were opened. The three lowest bidders - APM, Jen-Col Construction Ltd. and PCL Construction - were invited to submit new numbers for four post-tender items. These were for PST and for costs of aluminum panels, cast-in-plate piles and steel driven piles.
It was a process designed to find additional cost-savings for the project.
However, according to a July 5 memo by Parks and Recreation Director Stuart York, the results "did not consistently reduce the price, and one company appears to have taken the information from the public tender opening to adjust their price for the entire job, calling in to question the validity of the tender process."
York is referring to Jen-Col Construction Ltd., which submitted an original tender of $13,840,822 that included $285,920 of PST - a price well above APM's low bid by about a half-million.
After resubmitting on the four post-tender items, APM had made no changes to its bid. PCL Construction had also made no changes to an original bid of $13,877,917, a figure that included $251,964 in PST.
On the other hand, Jen-Col was able to deduct $764,824 in aluminum panel costs to bring their tender price down to $12,790,078 plus taxes- a price that would have beaten APM's submitted low bid by almost $300,000.
Jen-Col's new low bid raised red flags for administration when they received the results on the afternoon of June 28.
Toye told reporters Wednesday the concern was Jen-Col was trying to "buy the contract" with the new post-tender figures.
At a regular meeting June 28, Toye told council the city solicitor would be consulted to get an opinion as to whether the tender process was above board. That consultation happened last week, with the city solicitor confirming administration's concerns.
In correspondence dated July 2, lawyer Eldon Lindgren stated the "result of the tendering process including the post tender addendum submissions does create competing problems for the City in moving to award the tender."
"It is our opinion," Lindgren went on, "that the lesser potential problem for the City would be if the award was made to your original low bidder, APM Construction Services, Inc. Our review confirms your opinion that Jen-Col Construction Ltd. appears to have been able to use the knowledge gained from the tender opening to create an artificial deduction factor."
Lindgren further stated the contract was entitled to be awarded based on the original tender.
Based on the legal opinion, administration made the recommendation to award APM Construction the contract for the theatre component.
That carried with the unanimous support of Mayor Ian Hamilton and four councillors who were attending the special meeting.
A concern raised by Councillor Grace Lang and echoed by some others was about the cost of the theatre. The tender was awarded for 9.8 per cent higher than what Barr Ryder Architects' estimated late last year.
Their previous estimate for the theatre component was $12,045,743.58. With the taxes added in. APM's winning lowest bid runs about $1.2 million higher.
Toye admitted administration's surprise and disappointment that the competitive tender didn't produce a better result, noting a project in Edmonton had come in 10 per cent lower while other competitive projects in Saskatchewan had also come in lower.
The $13 million tender award also does not include potential contingencies costs - something council needed to be aware of, Toye said.
"Certainly it's a concern for everyone," Toye said to reporters about the costs.
Toye held out hope the situation might improve as contracts are awarded in the next six weeks for the next components. The aquatic centre tender is to close in two weeks.
He noted administration will have a good idea of what the costs will ultimately be once tenders are in for the theatre and aquatic centre.
"There's always the opportunity to pick that million dollars up along the way, " Toye said.
There was also concern expressed by Councillor Rhonda Seidel about whether there was a clause in the tenders sent out to make sure local subcontractors had an opportunity to bid and be involved with the project.
Toye responded there was no such wording to guarantee local subcontractors - the idea is to get best value for the dollar, and a situation where it was a "closed shop - local contractors only" would have been difficult and more expensive to do. However, Toye did assure there was a lot of interest in local people who wanted to get involved.
In his final comments at the special meeting Hamilton praised administration for their handling of the issues raised during the tender process, saying potential issues that could expose the city to risk "have been mitigated by the actions of administration and management."
