Alberta AG urges procurement process revamp
Wylie recommends better controls for infrastructure project contracts
Alberta's auditor general has made a series of recommendations for improvements he says are needed to ensure the procurement process for government infrastructure projects is more effective.
In a report released Wednesday, auditor general Doug Wylie said some procurement documents are not being posted for the required length of time, the old process confirming that only bids submitted on time are evaluated did not operate effectively and that the government does not have adequate controls to verify that bids comply with requirements.
“Construction contracts are often in the millions of dollars. Proponents invest time and money in the development of their submissions, including their bids, and they rely on and expect fair and competitive procurement processes,” Wylie said in a statement.
“Albertans should be confident that Alberta Infrastructure has effective processes to ensure the significant dollars it spends on construction contracts are procured fairly and competitively.”
As part of the information gathered from August 2021 to March 2022, auditors found nine out of 17 sampled requests for qualifications (RFQS) — each with an estimated value of more than $9.1 million — had not been posted for the minimum 25 days required by the trade agreements. Alberta Infrastructure posted three of the 17 RFQS for only 14 days.
According to the report, Alberta Infrastructure receives 17 per cent of bid submissions within one minute of the procurement closing. Auditors found that bid forms were not always accurate and that Alberta Infrastructure accepted hard copy bids that were late before it changed its process to only accepting electronic submissions.
Alberta Infrastructure does not have adequate controls to verify that bids comply with requirements, Wylie said
According to the report, in eight of the 58 procurements sampled, the bid bond was not issued correctly because the proponent did not use Alberta Infrastructure's legal name. Those bonds are usually disqualified because there's a risk that they may not be enforceable. However, in these cases only one was disqualified.
“In one case, Alberta Infrastructure awarded a contract with a value between $5 million and $10 million to a proponent with an improperly issued bond,” the report says.
In another case, the request for proposals included a requirement that bids not be over a certain amount. Each submitted bid was too high but no one was disqualified.
“The contract went to the lowest bidder. A risk exists that the competition may have been limited if some proponents did not bid on the project as they may have anticipated their bid would exceed the maximum amount stated in the RFP,” the report says.
In the end, Wylie recommended the government put in better controls to ensure compliance with trade agreements as well as improvements for receiving and evaluating submissions.
“Based on our audit criteria, we conclude that Alberta Infrastructure has processes to ensure fair and competitive procurement of its construction tenders but not all of these processes are effective, and improvements can be made,” he said.
In a statement, Brendan Procé, director of communications for Alberta Infrastructure, said the department has already implemented or improved many of the processes that the audit identified.
“We accept the OAG'S recommendations and are working to explore, enhance and further develop our construction procurement processes to ensure our systems remain fair, open and transparent,” he said.