Edmonton scraps Valley Line procurement process after proponents withdraw

EDMONTON, ALTA. – The City of Edmonton is taking its Valley Line West LRT project procurement back to the drawing board.

City officials announced that the 14-kilometre extension from Downtown to Lewis Farms will be delivered using a design-build-finance (DBF) model. Under this model, the successful bidder will undertake the design and construction of the project and provide partial private financing.

City officials explained that the new procurement strategy was chosen after engaging with construction industry stakeholders to better understand changes in the market’s capacity to build the Valley Line West LRT. The city will now procure light rail vehicles separately and is currently exploring options related to that approach.

Originally, the city intended to lump both into one contract. The city paused the procurement strategy for review after two of the three shortlisted teams withdrew from the previous procurement process in July.

The shortlisted proponents were: Flatiron, AECON, Dragados Valley Line West Joint Venture (FAD); Urban Mobility Partners (Eurovia, Graham and Parsons); and WestLINK Group (a team of subcontractors led by SNC Lavalin). Urban Mobility Partners and WestLINK Group withdrew.

“Our goal has always been to deliver the Valley Line West LRT project in a manner that provides Edmontonians with the best value for their money and we’re confident our new procurement strategy will achieve that,” said Bruce Ferguson, branch manager for LRT expansion and renewal.

The city expects to launch the new procurement process with a request for qualifications (RFQ) early in the new year. The successful proponent will be selected by the end of 2020 and the project is expected to be completed by 2027.

The Valley Line West procurement strategy report will be presented to Executive Committee for information on November 18.

Once finished, the full 27-kilometre Valley Line will provide continuous light rail transit service to key areas between southeast, downtown and west Edmonton.