News & Events

Infrastructure Ontario agrees to modify bundling process and RFQ competitions

November 29, 2012

Members of the Construction and Design Alliance of Ontario (CDAO) have been actively involved in meetings and working groups with Infrastructure Ontario to address two major concerns of the industry. The first is the “Bundling” of projects to meet the financial thresholds required for an AFP project. The CDAO has raised concerns about this practice for some time. We submitted written position papers explaining our concerns but offering solutions. As a direct result of the CDAO’s efforts, a meeting was convened by IO inviting many players to a opening session to address concerns. From that, a working “Task Force” was created to develop a solution to the concerns. OGCA was represented by Paul Raboud of Bird Construction, and Barry Steinberg of Consulting Engineers of Ontario as Vice Chair of the CDAO acting as Chair. Meetings were conducted, solutions discussed and a six point framework was developed which lays the groundwork for systems to review and plans better “Bundled” projects. Members of the CDAO have approved the memorandum, and other groups who had attended the first meeting were shown the document and approved it. This is a positive step forward and clearly shows the value of experienced professionals at the CDAO working with the IO staff and organization to achieve solutions. The second announcement addresses concerns raised by CDAO last year on ensuring a level playing field in RFQ competitions. We had received reports of issues over safety, trades, contract terms, the exporting of consulting services. We again documented examples, spoke to various stakeholders included in the RFQ process, and developed a recommendation to resolve these issues. Several preliminary meetings took place that involved many senior OGCA leaders. The Minister and the new CEO Bert Clark took these concerns very seriously and they acted. We were asked to suggest the best method to proceed in ensuring support for change. We recommended a summit meeting including leading representatives from the Consultants, Builder stakeholders and representatives from Labour. While this was being planned, we provided input to the Ministry on the development of what is now called Local Construction Knowledge. When completed, the CDAO partnership in the summit with Labour and the attached new “Submission Requirements” were agreed to and will become part of the RFQ process on the next project to be released. We are proud of the role OGCA members played through the CDAO in working collectively with both Ministry and IO staff to achieve a very important revision. The Minister, his staff and the IO representatives are to be congratulated for making a hard decision, to step up and do what is right for Ontario, its taxpayers and its construction industry. We applaud Minister Chiarelli, CEO Bert Clark and all the staff who worked together with us to make it happen. We look forward to continuing this strong collaborative process as we move forward. ABOUT CDAO The Construction and Design Alliance is a coalition of the following associations: Association of Registered Interior Designers, Consulting Engineers of Ontario, Mechanical Contractors Association of Ontario, Ontario Association of Architects, Ontario General Contractors Association, Ontario Road Builders’ Association, Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association, Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, RESCON, Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO), Ontario Home Builders Association, BILD ABOUT OGCA The OGCA represents over 200 general contractors across Ontario who build 70 per cent of all the industrial, commercial and institutional work province-wide, and the majority of AFP/IO projects which will include the Pan Am games projects. We believe strongly in creating a fair and balanced procurement system through the use of consultation between owners and the industry.

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