City awards UPAR contract at special council meeting

“It allows us to award contracts based on more than just solely the pricing,” she said. “This is the route the province and federal governments go with most often. It’s a little bit more work, but it lets you take a look at the full picture.”

The costing aspect represented 50 per cent of the possible 1,000 points for the rating.

Niesink added that the two proponents’ proposals were presented as plan A and B for consideration, so the selection committee did not know whose plan they were evaluating.

It was a close race.

Niesink said K & S Asphalt came out ahead of the competitor by 19 points of the possible thousand points in total in the rating system.

“It was marginally thin, but the process does recommend K & S at the end of the day,” she said, “One plan went further than what we were expecting and it meets the values we were looking for.”

While both proposals came in over budget, there is still enough in the city’s UPAR budget to cover the full amount, the city confirmed.

Niesink noted that due to proprietary information, no further details of the submissions could be discussed.

As the city lost its house engineer late in the spring this year, it went through the process and hired Urban Systems Ltd. to assist with the design work, tender and contract administration for the 2021 UPAR work.

The city combined the roadway and underground contracts into one contract.

Urban Systems Ltd. consulting engineer Kyle Colburn said the proponents bidding for the contract lay out a plan that also deals with risks throughout the project. So the highest ranked proponent was recommended for the project.

The engineering contract with Urban Systems Ltd. has been extended in the amount of up to $30,000 including PST, to include the design and construction management of two additional roadway improvement projects on Railway Avenue East and Battleford Road.

The contract bids were for construction of the following UPAR projects and one operations capital budget project to occur in 2021 and be completed before October 2022: rehabilitate 102nd Street from Railway Ave. to 16th Ave., Henderson Drive, Battleford Road; Railway Ave. E. from Werb Street to 114th St; complete a pressure sustaining valve project; complete hydrant replacements.

As there is supply issue for the availability of piping, the 102nd Street UPAR project will be done in 2022 instead of 2021. The city indicated it appears any underground work scheduled for 2021 likely will need to be postponed to 2022 due to major supply shortages of pipe material across Canada currently.

Niesink also mentioned during the meeting, city administration has applied for a $750,000 grant for the 102nd Street project.

“Should this grant be awarded, the plan would be to locate other work in the UPAR list that was presented to council last year, and put a separate RFP [request for proposals] out for an additional $750,000 of work which would happen next year.

Coun. Bill Ironstand said during the meeting he appreciated seeing the two firms competing for the 2021-2022 contract were both local firms, which is good for the area.

–

Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow

by Angela Brown

City awards UPAR contract at special council meeting

What's Trending