The Heavy Construction Association of Windsor is taking issue with the process used to by the County of Essex to award the tender for improvements to the County Road 42 and 43 corridors.
The association is challenging the decision by the County by seeking an urgent Application for Judicial Review with the goal of having a judge stop the project and put it back out for tender.
Jim Lyons, Executive Director of the association, says concerns were raised by members during the intial tendering process over the fluctuating prices of supplies and fuel, along with the supply of materials and a Contractor Contract Hardship Action Form was sought to have the County help share and mitigate the risk.
According to a report that went before Essex County Council on Sept. 7, a Request for Tenders for Phase 1 of the project was posted in April, 2022 but two days before it was set to close in May, the Hardship Action Form was received.
The process closed without any formal bids and as a result, the County moved to directly approach contractors for the purpose of negotiating the costs for the project under what's known as a limited tendering, without needing to go back to tender process.
The previous projected cost for Phase 1 was $18.5-million but the estimate from the potential contractor came in at $29-million, the price for which the tender was awarded.
Lyons says after the Sept. 7 meeting was when they learned the project cost increased to $29-million.
"Plus they also added three to five months on the construction contract," he says. "In our minds, there was all kinds of time for them to sit down and talk about ways they could have avoided paying much more for a project then they probably could have, then if they had bid it competitively."
Lyons says the public is going to end up paying a lot more for this project then they should have.
"The project is not a $29-million job, unless they added all kind of scope of work to it. But we wouldn't know they because they never invited any of us to bid it. We don't even know what the drawings look like, but effectively, it's the same scope of work from what we know," he says.
Lyons says they're going forward with something without putting it out to allow all the other bidders to furnish their tenders.
"Had it been a $29-million budget at the time that this was closing in May, I bet you all of our contractors would have given them a price. They would have been able to say 'yeah, I can withstand the risk now,'" he adds.
A statement provided to AM800 News from the the County of Essex says "The County of Essex pursued limited tendering, in full compliance with its Procurement Policy, after receiving no bids on the County Road 42/43 project after a request for tenders in the spring. This issue was the subject of an extensive report and discussions at a public meeting of County Council on Sept. 7.
The County considered putting the project on hold but believed after careful analysis that the project was too vital to delay. Any delay could jeopardize the success of the new battery plant in Windsor as well as the work underway for a new regional hospital.
After ensuring its Procurement Policy was followed, and after reporting on the matter publicly, the County awarded the contract to Piera Con Enterprises Inc., a member of the Heavy Construction Association of Windsor.
As the matter is currently before the Court, and out of respect for the judicial process, the County has no further comment at this time."
Phase 1 of the work will be focused on a section of County Road 42 from Concession 11 to Pike Creek, involving underground utilities, watermain, sanitary sewers and storm sewers.
The work is to prepare to additional phases of the project that will eventually see County Road 42 widened from two to five lanes from the City of Windsor limits to the Pike Creek Bridge. Roundabouts will also be installed at the Manning Road and Banwell Road intersections.
The Heavy Construction Association of Windsor is a membership association of contractors and related suppliers whose work encompasses the road, sewer and watermain sector of the construction industry.