Canadian Construction Association conference speakers discuss procurement, contracting issues

At the Canadian Construction Association conference in Savannah, Georgia, speakers talked about the integrity of procurement and contracting processes. The construction industry does not have to look too far to find the root causes in current procurement and contracting practice issues, say some Canadian Construction Association (CCA) vertical building forum members. Speakers included Clive Thurston, president of the Ontario General Contractors Association, Darlene LaTrace of the Edmonton Construction Association and John Bockstael of Bockstael Construction Ltd.

“The bottom line, all the problems, like bad drawings etc., we let it happen. We let it happen, over and over,” said Clive Thurston, Ontario General Contractors Association president. “Every time we got a chance to shut down an owner and bring them to the table on a major issue, somebody breaks ranks.”

The CCA’s vertical building forum met during the association’s 94th annual conference. It explored emerging procurement and contracting practices and whether those processes in Canada were losing their integrity and transparency. In trying to define the root causes, numerous factors were considered from inexperienced purchasing officials to construction’s own willingness to ignore issues in order to secure work.

Darlene LaTrace of the Edmonton Construction Association echoed Thurston’s comment about the industry having to look at itself to understand the current issues it faces. Her association recently held a three-hour forum on the subject of procurement and contracting practice issues and they determined “we asked for this and got what we deserved”, she said.

John Bockstael of Bockstael Construction Ltd. and CCA general contractor council chair, explained that his council requested that procurement and contracting practice issues be brought to the forum to see what the experience of other sectors has been on the issue.

Bockstael noted that public authorities are hiring project management firms to assist in tendering processes and in contract process and administration. With this evolution, CCA members have reported cases of project management firms having little respect with prevailing practices in calling bids and awarding construction contracts. As well, owner supplementary conditions have increased as have questionable tender closing protocols.

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“What get us in these situations in the first place are the tender call and the award itself,” said Bockstael. “On a very basic level, if you think back to what tender calls were 20 or even 40 years ago for a simple fixed-price tender call, how has it changed? Public openings are now a rarity, bid depositories are very few so their guidelines are lost to a new generation.”

Fast forward to today and the new challenges for bidders are numerous, forum members noted. Issues such as questionable tender calls, non-public bid openings, non disclosure of results, lengthy post-tender processes, re-tenders, unofficial solicitation of additional pricing after closing and undisclosed evaluation criteria, are prevalent.

“How many moving targets can there be?” wondered Bockstael.

Thurston added that in Ontario a growing issue for his members has been the use of certified public procurement experts by owners such as municipalities. These owners are turning over the procurement of construction to these professionals and that has only complicated practices, he said.

“They think we are a commodity to be bought or sold.”