Allyson Beauregard
MUNICIPALITY OF PONTIAC – After launching three calls to tender, the
municipality finally awarded the snowplowing contract for Sector E (Quyon) to Mountain View for $160,390 per year for five years (taxes included) during a meeting on December 14. Only one other offer was received from Septik Allen for $206,955 per year.
Allyson Beauregard
MUNICIPALITY OF PONTIAC – After launching three calls to tender, the
municipality finally awarded the snowplowing contract for Sector E (Quyon) to Mountain View for $160,390 per year for five years (taxes included) during a meeting on December 14. Only one other offer was received from Septik Allen for $206,955 per year.
Late in November, council rejected the two offers received during the second call, launched September 27, stating they greatly exceeded the municipality’s ability to pay and both contained “certain elements ofnon-conformity”. The lowest bid was $276,000 per year while the other was $388,000. No offers were received during the first round.
“Our last contract was $99,000 per year, and they were asking three times that amount. Basically, it was the equivalent of raising taxes by 3%!” said Dominic Labrie, municipal Communications Officer, noting the former contract holder, Mario Allen, did not apply at all.
“The decision to go back to tender saved us $100,000 per year, or about half a million dollars over five years. In addition, the contractor will now take care of getting rid of the snow banks in the village,” said Labrie. Previously, the municipality took care of snow bank removal; this change is partly responsible for the new contract’s price increase.
While the tendering process was open, the municipality did the plowing Sector E by
purchasing a sidewalk plowing machine, which according to Labrie, was cheaper to buy and resell than to rent for a month or two; they also rented another truck for a short period of time. If a contractor hadn’t been found, the contract would have been handled internally and functioned as a pilot project for other sectors.
Quality of service clauses
The municipality also added clauses to the new contract in order to improve the quality of service offered, given that fines had to be issued last year. “The late start and frequency in which the snow removal was done, as well as the lack of abrasives being spread, were the main offences identified,” he said.
Contracts can now be withdrawn after two written warnings have been issued. Infractions include poor quality of work, poor behaviour toward municipal employees or citizens, and machinery in poor condition.
