SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
City council has voted to put off a decision to award a $2 million contract to replace ice making equipment at the community arena while staff clear up questions about funding and transparency.
The city needs to replace the refrigeration unit by 2020 because Freon R-22 - a substance used by the ice plant at the Yellowknife Community Arena - will no longer be permitted as a chemical coolant under federal law.
Administration had written a Request For Proposals (RFP) for a replacement ice maker, but during a March 9 Municipal Services Committee meeting councillors had questions about transparency since the company asked to provide technical details for the contract was the same company that won the tender. Cimco Refrigeration, of London, Ont., provided equipment information and requirements for the RFP and went on to win the tender, said Grant White, director of community services.
Two other bids were submitted by Wildstone Arctic Ltd. - an NWT based company - whose submissions were scored around 300 and 200 points lower respectively than the Cimco bid which achieved a proposal score of 955 points for its $1.9 million bid, according to Clem Hand, the city's manager of corporate services and risk management.
At the council meeting that evening, Coun. Niels Konge asked who had written the RFP.
When Grant White, director of corporate services, said staff wrote the RFP in consultation with the winning bidder, Cimco, Coun. Linda Bussey said she wanted to know how much Cimco knew about the RFP before it was public.
Senior Administrative Officer Dennis Kefalas said the information gathered from Cimco was identical to what was posted on the company's website and the company wasn't actually part of writing the RFP.
He said the company was behind the ice making system currently in operation at the Multiplex, and that the city regularly consults with previous service and equipment providers to obtain details on future projects.
"The specs we obtained from Cimco were similar to any specs you would find on their website or any specs you would find in their book keeping," he said.
Coun. Dan Wong is concerned funding for the refrigeration unit is set to come from the community energy plan fund, which has an annual budget of $500,000 for community energy projects each year.
Wong said he couldn't sign off on a contract that wouldn't go toward community energy projects, which he says does not include a refrigeration unit.
Wong and staff disagreed over how much money had been budgeted from the community energy plan.
White said the total amount budgeted for the project from 2014 and 2015 was $250,000.
Wong said he'd like to hold off on voting on the matter until he has a chance to check his math and talk the matter over with staff.
Coun. Adrian Bell asked how changes to the Canadian dollar are affecting the cost of the build.
White said the contractor estimated that currency changes will increase costs by 20 per cent. White said Cimco will hold its bid price for 60 days and that they were two weeks into that timeline.
Bell and Coun. Cory Vanthuyne said they'd approve the contract before the meeting was through - in the interest of preventing runaway costs - but the majority of councillors opted to hold off on signing until their next meeting.
