City awards water tower demolition to Toronto-based company
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The process to evaluate bids for city projects needs to be reviewed, said a project manager with Lacroix Construction.
Jordan Binotto said the city awarded the contract to tear down the Ash Street water tower to an out-of-town contractor, despite his company submitting a bid that was about $85,000 cheaper than the successful bidder.
Furthermore, Lacroix’s estimated time frame from start to finish for the project was three to four weeks, about half of the time it would take Priestly Demolition from Toronto to complete the work.
Lacroix submitted a tender of $107,680 plus HST; Priestly Demolition’s tender came in at $191,500 plus HST. That means the city will spend an additional $83,820 of taxpayers money to bring in a company from another city to do local work, Binotto said.
Binotto said he is well aware that contracts should not be awarded based on the lowest bid, and pointed out the city’s “mistake” when it awarded its 2011-2013 street sweeping contract to Orangeville-based DeAngelo Brothers Corporation.
In August, the city stated the contractor “arrived in the city with insufficient equipment to complete the contract within the designated timeline.” This required the city to step in and assist the contractor to complete the work.
In most cases, “you get what you pay for,” Binotto said.
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