Local companies could be getting some much-needed work as the new town hall heads to tender.
“Right now, with the tighter economy, it's very important to keep the local employed because that's where our local businesses are relied upon with keeping the economy vibrant,” said Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski.
In an effort to get as many local people as possible employed through the town hall project, Bonnyville Town Council has decided to create tender evaluation criteria. Known as the Tender Evaluation Matrix, in addition to price it will take local involvement and related experience into consideration when awarding the bid.
“You could base the project entirely on price or, to promote local involvement, you could do it so the companies with more (local involvement) score higher,” explained assistant CAO Bill Rogers. “For example, 10 per cent for local involvement criteria means there's a possible 10 points out of 100…It's about evaluating the score. You're scoring everyone out of 100 and whoever has the highest score ideally gets the work.”
At their May 24 meeting, council was presented with options for the criteria, which could include a possible four categories: related experience, local involvement, people assigned and price.
“For people assigned, we would be asking bidders to provide the resumes of people involved in the project,” Rogers noted.
One option would see related experience and local involvement weighted at 10 per cent each, and price at 80 per cent. The second option proposed was 10 per cent for related experience, 20 per cent for local involvement, 30 per cent for people assigned, and 40 per cent for price.
However, neither criteria scenario struck a cord with council.
“I would prefer to go with 15/15/70. I'd be more happy with that,” stated Coun. John Irwin.
Council ultimately favoured Irwin's proposed criteria.
Council voted in favour of weighing related experience and local involvement at 15 per cent (or 15 possible points out of 100), and setting the price factor at 70 per cent (70 points).
“Our main focus is still price; that should be a main concern,” Coun. Lorna Storoschuk noted.
While pleased with the concept, one of the concerns raised by council was the enforcement of the policy, specifically the use of local workers. Councillors were informed that companies would be required to list which subcontractors they will be using in the contract. Changes to the personnel list will only be changed with council's authorization.
“They are bound by a contract. Before they even put a spade in the ground they'd already be in violation of the contract (if they didn't use the local labour),” explained Sobolewski.
The initial estimates for the new town hall facility came in at around the $6.8-million mark. The total project cost, including contingencies, is earmarked at approximately $8.9-million.
Designs for the multi-million dollar project were first revealed in February. The new town hall will be located directly east of the current building, where the parking lot sits. It will have one-storey council chambers connected to a two-storey “L” shaped administration building. Office space will take up the bottom floor of the building, while the upper floor is left undeveloped, ready for future expansion should it be needed.
The 15/15/70 per cent tender criteria is separate from the town's new shop local policy. The criteria was approved solely for the town hall project at this time.
Architect firm Manasc Issac is in the process of finalizing the designs and tender documents to be sent out. In correspondence from architect Vivian Manasc to town administration, she said the company is targeting a June 3 tender call with a closing date of July 6.
