ERIN – Erin council are looking to see if there’s any issue or improvements to be made to its bid and tender process after a number of recent errors.
Staff will be bringing a report back, based on a motion by Coun. John Brennan, to council outlining the bid process to avoid any errors as has happened recently.
In March, Erin council awarded a nearly $3 million contract to B.E. Construction Ltd. for renovations at the Erin Community Centre, also called the Centre 2000.
At meetings later that month, it was revealed errors had been made by the town’s consultant.
A few items were included in the base bid price that the town could opt to have completed or not. Those items ended up being added back on and counted twice when the architect was evaluating for the lowest bidder and caused B.E. Construction Ltd. to be awarded the contract under incorrect information.
A corrected analysis found CPM group to be the lowest bidder by $5,000. Council ended up cancelling the tender.
On another bid approved by council in March, a report said a “typographical error” caused a contract for a $116,000 tractor to be awarded to Premier Equipment Ltd. rather than the actual lowest bidder Ed Stewart’s Garage and Equipment Ltd.
At Thursday afternoon’s meeting, council voted to reconsider that decision and award it to the right bidder.
Brennan said at the meeting he wants staff and council to look at the process and identify if there are any steps that could be taken to ensure errors like these don’t happen again.
“Maybe there is nothing, if it’s just human error but I think it’s worthwhile having a look at the process and trying to decide if we can tweak it or whatever to make it a better process to save us both time and money in the future,” Brennan said.
Council voted unanimously in favour of the motion. Mayor Michael Dehn was not present at the meeting.