Two city councillors came under fire this week for meeting with one of the three pre-qualified bidders for the Kingsway Entertainment District’s design-build before bidding closed.
The issue arose during Thursday’s city council meeting, at which Mayor Brian Bigger cut off Ward 4 Coun. Geoff McCausland during a preamble to a question about the bidders.
“It seems to me, perhaps, that you have engaged with a proponent in the midst of a procurement process that is not yet complete or awarded, and I’m not sure that this is appropriate,” Bigger said. “This is very serious.”
Bigger’s comments, bolstered by CAO Ed Archer’s requested clarification that “members of council and staff not authorized to maintain contact with bidders should not be engaged in those discussions while a procurement is underway,” appeared to come out of left field for the casual viewer.
It makes a bit more sense with some behind-the-scenes context, but still isn’t cut and dried.
Shortly before Thursday’s meeting began, McCausland sent an email to his colleagues on city council in which he outlined the contents of a meeting he took part in on May 30 with Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti and a representative from EllisDon Corporation. The email, which was leaked to Sudbury.com, outlines concerns related to the procurement process – most notably that its timeline was too short.
Based in Mississauga, EllisDon is one of the three shortlisted pre-qualified bidders for the Kingsway Entertainment District design-build progressive request for proposals process, joining Ball/TESC Construction Inc. (Sudbury) and PCL Constructors Canada Inc. (Kitchener).
The RFP process closed at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, revealing that EllisDon did not end up submitting a bid.
The city’s Purchasing Bylaw states that city councillors are not allowed to “receive or accept any information or documents in relation to a particular procurement while the process is ongoing and prior to the award.”
The city's Code of Conduct reiterates this point, clarifying that councillors “shall not attempt to influence the decision making process as it relates to the award of contracts or settlement of claims through personal contact or interaction with the parties administering or directly involved in such processes.”
Although the procurement process was ongoing when McCausland and Signoretti reportedly met with one of the proponents on May 30, it’s unclear whether it was still considered an ongoing process for EllisDon.
An EllisDon spokesperson clarified to Sudbury.com that their team notified the city on April 14 that they would not participate as a proponent or provide a proposal for the project.
“In speaking with the team, the biggest factor was the timing for submission of the proposal,” the spokesperson said by emailed correspondence, in which they also clarified that it’s unclear which team member might have met with the city councillors.
McCausland declined to share the name of the EllisDon employee they met with, but that it was someone with knowledge of the procurement process based in Toronto.In emailed correspondence with Sudbury.com, McCausland said that the meeting was not out of turn. Signoretti did not respond to the same emailed inquiry.“
EllisDon had removed themselves from the bid process weeks before someone reached out to Coun. Signoretti to share their concerns and explain why they pulled out,” McCausland said.
“I agreed to meet with him to hear them out, because if one of the largest construction companies in Canada doesn't want to bid on our $100 million-dollar-plus arena build, and appears to have lost confidence in our procurement process, I want to know why.”
McCausland said he is concerned the request for proposals process was rushed, and that he has been taken aback that a company as experienced as EllisDon was unable to make it work.
“It was important to hear what went wrong, and find out what caused the largest sports architect in Canada, that has built and renovated arenas of all sizes including the Air Canada Centre, Rogers Arena, Madison Square Gardens, arenas in London, Brampton, Kingston, Windsor, and Barrie, to drop out of the bidding to build a new arena here in Greater Sudbury.”
Not everyone on city council agrees that the meeting was appropriate.
Following Thursday’s meeting, Bigger told Sudbury.com that he intends on filing a complaint with the city’s integrity commissioner due to a perceived breach of the city’s Code of Conduct.
Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc raised a point of order during Thursday’s meeting and called to question the motivations of the two councillors.Afterward, Leduc told Sudbury.com that because the bidding process was still open on May 30, EllisDon was still qualified to submit something in time for Thursday’s 1:30 p.m. deadline.
“They breached everything,” he said of the councillors, adding that he’s now curious as to whether the alleged breach might have any legal ramifications for the city.
“It’s very unethical for any councillor to get into the weeds of things like that, especially when they knew the procurement was still open.”
During Thursday’s meeting, Leduc asked about the potential implications of this matter, but was told that any legal advice or opinion would need to be discussed in a closed session.
“To remain consistent with that approach, and recognizing this procurement process remains open and has not yet been awarded, we will not comment further at this time,” a city spokesperson noted in email correspondence with Sudbury.com.
Reflecting on the city’s Purchasing Bylaw and the ambiguity as to whether the procurement process was still considered ongoing for EllisDon on May 30, McCausland said it wouldn’t have made any sense to put off the meeting until after a proponent had been selected.
“Do we not want to know there are problems when we still have time to do something about it?” he asked.
With EllisDon having let city administration know they were backing out of the bidding process on April 14, McCausland questions why city council wasn’t also informed at that time.
It appears as though “we want to get this locked in before the next election,” he said, noting that the current timeline would secure enough approvals to remove it as an election issue in time for the Oct. 24 civic election.
“When we rush, we make mistakes,” McCausland said. “In this case, that’s really how it appears. … If it’s such a great project and such a great idea, it’ll stand on its two feet regardless of the timeline.”
The city’s elected officials are expected to select a design-build proponent next month. They will also vote on a final overall KED budget in the event it exceeds the $100 million they have already approved.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
