Government Being Asked To Look At Tender Policy

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers says the provincial government needs to take a serious look at how it awards construction contracts. This comes following the buckling of the Nipigon River Bridge that has impacted some transport travel across Canada. The bridge is still limited to one lane of alternating traffic, however the TransCanada is still off-limits to oversized vehicles. Sandro Perruzza says the provincial practice of accepting the low-bid isn’t the answer and is calling on the Liberals to follow the lead of the Americans. He says contracting firms should be required to submit pre-qualifying bids for contracts, questioning what organizations are compromising to drive down the bid. Perruzza says firms should be able to prove they are able to complete any job successfully. He notes environmental and climate experience should be a major consideration in any decision. Perruzza says a pre-bid will result to more confident decisions in order to avoid an event similar to the problem at the Nipigon bridge. The Nipigon project was handed to an engineer firm in Spain with ties to Canada.