The Saskatoon Construction Association (SCA) is calling on officials to rethink public procurement practices after design work for the Saskatoon Central Library was awarded to three companies outside the province.
Shannon Friesen, executive director of the SCA, wrote a letter to Saskatoon Public Library Board of Trustee members saying the group was happy the project was moving forward, but disappointed local firms weren’t being used for a majority of design work.
“We have qualified, quality architects ready and willing to serve their communities right now here in Saskatoon, and across the province,” wrote Friesen. “These firms are the very businesses that the Saskatchewan growth plan seeks to protect, and they have sadly been undermined in their ability to hire and retain local labour, pay taxes locally, and injected much-needed activity into our economy.”
Design work for the project was awarded to a team of three out-of-province architects: Formline Architecture, Chevalier Morales Architects and Architecture49.
While the SCA noted that the library serves as an excellent central hub and will provide recreational and educational benefits for decades, it is a clear signal that the process needs to change.
“The construction association network has long advocated for public procurement practices to be restructured, not as an administrative task, but rather to view procurement as an economic development opportunity,” wrote Friesen. “A best-value procurement process, with local economic impact as a scored criterion for awards, would fundamentally shift the culture of procurement officials to think of themselves as economic development officers.”
The Saskatoon Public Library Board was contacted for comment but did not respond to the Journal of Commerce by press time.
According to library documents, the prime design contract is worth $4.8 million. It includes the design team and 11 other sub-consultants. According to the library, about 45 per cent of the value of the design contract is for sub-consultants, which are mostly local firms.
The sub-consultants included in the design contract are mechanical, civil, electrical and structural engineering, landscape architecture and wayfinding, sustainability, acoustics, building envelope, security and audio-visual and cost consultants.
“We chose this team because of their expertise and proposed approach to designing a new central library that will embody local First Nation and Metis identities (traditions and cultures) and express the aspirations of the Saskatoon community as a whole,” wrote library officials in a press release. “The design team, led by Alfred Waugh, has the experience, vision, and collaborative spirit to incorporate both Indigenous and non-Indigenous leadership, values, history, and ways of knowing into a state-of-the-art library. The team also demonstrated successful experience in designing sustainable, universally accessible buildings and delivering projects on time and within budget.”
The construction contract for the facility, valued at around $73.3 million, is expected to be tendered after the design work is finished.
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