Work resumes gradually under new rules
Months after a moratorium on the awarding of new municipal construction contracts was imposed at city hall, bidding on key public contracts has resumed and guidelines have been tightened. René Bruemmer reports bids are now being accepted on 25 contracts f
Frozen since October by a storm of corruption allegations, the awarding of nonessential construction contracts by the City of Montreal is finally creaking back into motion.
Quebec’s financial affairs watchdog, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), announced that the top of the city’s list — 25 municipal contracts that are not considered emergency works — are once again open for bids, under conditions laid out under Quebec’s Bill 1, adopted in December in an effort to weed out fraud and collusion in the bidding process.
Among the projects given the go-ahead are roadwork contracts surrounding the McGill University Health Centre’s superhospital project on de Maisonneuve and Décarie Blvds., aqueduct repairs on Sherbrooke St. near Vendôme Ave., infrastructure work on the Université de Montréal’s new Outremont campus, and work on the Pie IX interchange.
Under the rules of Bill 1, companies wishing to bid on contracts must fill out a detailed request with the Autorité des marchés financiers. The city will only accept bids of companies who submitted the required documentation to the AMF. It will then inform the AMF of the two lowest bidders and ask the organization to pass on the details it has collected to the province’s anti-corruption task force, known as UPAC, for investigation.
“Investigators will look into the history of the companies and their administrators, looking for a criminal past or if they’ve been linked to a cartel or have been charged with fraud,” AMF spokesman Sylvain Théberge said. If the two companies are deemed ineligible, the next highest bidders will be considered.
Companies who submit will have to pay a $400 charge, plus $200 for any company directors who also have to be investigated. Results of the investigation stand for three years will count toward subsequent bids on different contracts, so businesses don’t have to pay or complete the paperwork for every bid. Companies who were already involved in the bidding process on contracts targeted by the city are given priority.
Investigations of companies will take a few weeks, Théberge said.
Bill 1, also known as the Integrity in Public Contracts Act, initially covers only large-scale contracts worth $40 million or more so the AMF and UPAC wouldn’t be swamped with demands. The $40-million minimum will likely be reduced over time, Théberge said.
Montreal asked for and received a special decree tailored to the city’s needs that would cover contracts of $100,000 or more. Montreal had 276 such contracts in 2011. The city will decide on a case-by-case basis if contracts under $100,000 require pre-investigation by the AMF and UPAC.
“We’re very happy, because this brings a new level of confidence toward the companies we’re dealing with,” said Jonathan Abecassis, a spokesman for Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum.
“It’s important that Mont- real continues to update its infrastructure, I don’t think anyone would dispute that. This gives a new stamp of approval, and allows us to make sure the companies have nothing to reproach themselves for.”
Media investigations and testimony last fall at the Charbonneau Commission unearthed extensive allegations of corruption and collusion among companies bidding on municipal contracts in Montreal, particularly in the fields of water main repairs, sidewalk construction and road paving.
Former mayor Gérald Tremblay put a stop to the awarding of non-essential contracts in October until Quebec could enact stricter regulations. He was forced to step down before they could be enacted over allegations the corruption extended to his political party and he may have been aware of it. Former PQ minister Jacques Léonard has been chosen to join a joint provincial-municipal advisory board that will recommend means to improve Montreal’s contract regulations, Le Devoir newspaper reported Thursday. The committee, to be composed of legal affairs experts, auditors and other professionals, is supposed to provide recommendations to counter collusion and corruption by June. Mayoral spokesman Abecassis said the city would not be commenting on “specula- tions,” and that the makeup of the advisory board is to be named “as soon as possible. Thomas Boni Yayi, president of the Republic of Benin in Africa, visited Montreal’s city hall Thursday as part of his six-day Canadian tour. He was interested in how Montreal provides services to citizens and how it encourages the public to become involved in the consultative process, Abecassis said. He also mentioned he was interested in snow, having never experienced it before, so Applebaum invited him out onto a city hall balcony to make snowballs.