Watson revelation splits council
Some councillors miffed mayor didn’t disclose SNC LRT bid scoring
Councillors canvassed Tuesday after learning Mayor Jim Watson received a heads-up about SNC-Lavalin’s bid scoring ahead of council’s $1.6-billion contract vote on the Trillium Line expansion were either miffed about not receiving the same disclosure or indifferent about the revelation.
Coun. Riley Brockington didn’t take issue with Watson knowing and holding secret the confidential scoring details as the head of council, but Brockington said staff should have shared the same details with other members in a closed session.
“Council as a whole should have received this information when we asked for it,” Brockington said. “People needed to have as much information as possible to make the most educated decision at that time.”
Coun. Jeff Leiper called it “absolutely troubling ” that the mayor knew the confidential information and not the rest of council.
It’s understandable that the mayor as CEO of the municipality receives privileged information from time to time, but it’s a different story when the information would help inform a council vote, Leiper said.
During a finance committee meeting Monday night, councillors learned from the city manager that Watson received a briefing on March 5, 2019, about the Stage 2 contracts, including details about the discretionary clause the city used to keep SNC-Lavalin in the Trillium Line contract competition.
SNC-Lavalin failed to meet a scoring threshold during its technical-bid evaluation but came out on top because the company’s proposal had the best financial score. The city ironed out the technical deficiencies with SNC-Lavalin before the contract recommendation went to council.
On March 6, 2019, council voted 19-3 to award the Stage 2 O-Train contracts, including the contract for SNC-Lavalin to expand the Trillium Line and maintain the revamped north-south diesel train system. City staff and procurement consultants refused to answer any of council’s questions related to the bid evaluations.
Councillors Rick Chiarelli, Diane Deans and Shawn Menard voted against awarding the Trillium Line and Confederation Line contracts, which were the subject of a single council vote.
It was a request from CBC Ottawa on March 4, 2019, about the SNC-Lavalin technical score that set in motion a series of staff meetings to decide how to handle the leak of confidential information. Staff felt they had to notify Watson the day before the vote.
Patrick Champagne, the mayor’s press secretary, sent an emailed statement Tuesday in response to a question about Watson’s knowledge of the discretionary clause and SNC-Lavalin’s technical score.
Champagne said Watson wasn’t involved in the Stage 2 procurement process and that the mayor was told on March 5, 2019, “that there had been a breach of confidential procurement information.
“As the City of Ottawa was still in the active phase of the Stage 2 LRT procurement process, Mayor Watson was advised by legal counsel that breaching the confidentiality of the procurement process could damage the interests of Ottawa taxpayers,” Champagne said in the email.
“Mayor Watson’s priority during this briefing with city manager Steve Kanellakos was to ensure that the fairness commissioner, an independent third party hired to ensure the integrity of the process throughout the Stage 2 LRT procurement, had signed off on the process and confirmed that it was fully compliant with City of Ottawa policies. As the fairness commissioner had indeed signed off, Mayor Watson was satisfied that the process had been followed by staff.”
Asked why the mayor didn’t tell councillors about procurement details or advocate to go in closed session so councillors could receive the information, Champagne repeated that the mayor “was advised that releasing this information to council and the public during this active phase of the procurement could jeopardize the integrity of the process and damage the interests of Ottawa taxpayers.”
Watson was interviewed Tuesday morning at CTV studios but wasn’t available for an interview later in the day. His office said the mayor was sick.
To leave council in the dark before voting was a “fundamentally wrong” decision, Leiper said.
“That offends my sense of natural justice.”
“That was exceptionally disappointing and frustrating,” Coun. Catherine McKenney said. “We asked those very questions and we were told that we legally could not get that information, that they were not able to give it to us. The fact that the mayor had that information the day before, again, takes away my trust in senior management when I’m told something.”
Menard, who drew answers from the city manager Monday night about the mayor’s knowledge of the procurement details, said it’s not fair that the mayor had critical information about the procurement results.
“Obviously that’s a big revelation. When you go back to that meeting and watch the clips of that meeting, it’s coloured differently now that you know the mayor had that information,” Menard said Tuesday. “We as councillors should have been made aware of that as well, whether that be in camera or some other forum, we should have been made aware.”
“I think where they got themselves in trouble is keeping (the procurement details) from us,” Coun. Carol Anne Meehan said. “Why were they trying to keep it secret?
“I think that led to a lot of the questions and a lot of the theories running around.”
Others didn’t make a big deal over Watson knowing the confidential procurement information before the vote.
Coun. Glen Gower said he had every one of his questions answered before casting a vote in favour of the Stage 2 contracts.
“I don’t know how other councillors made their decision. I made my decision based on the information I had,” Gower said. “The mayor may have known something I didn’t know. Another councillor may have known something I did not know. But I know why I made the decision I did and I stand by that.”