Summary#
Montréal city council unanimously awarded a contract to Services d’Infrastructures Vortex inc. for water-pipe and road work in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles and Saint-Léonard. The council authorized a total of $18,387,484.22, including taxes, for the contract, contingencies and related costs. City staff say the work is intended to renew water infrastructure and coordinate road and sidewalk repairs.
- The contract covers about 3.89 kilometres of secondary water pipes, about 44,370 square metres of road work and minor repairs to about 3,897 square metres of sidewalks.
- It includes replacing about 443 lead water-service connections in the public section and about 94 in the private section.
- The city must evaluate Vortex’s performance. Contract penalties may apply for delays, including daily penalties of $1,000 to $3,500 for late work on a street, depending on its impact rating. No bonus is provided.
- The city awarded the contract through public call for tenders 524102. Three firms submitted bids; the council’s resolution identifies Vortex as the lowest compliant bidder with the required experience clause.
What it means for you#
- Residents in the three boroughs: Water pipes, roads and some sidewalks will be repaired in various streets. The supplied materials do not list those streets.
- Owners with private lead or non-compliant water-service connections: The contract includes about 94 replacements in private sections. The materials do not say whether owners will be billed or how the cost will be handled.
- The city and taxpayers: The city authorized the contract and its related budgets. The work may cause temporary disruption on affected streets; the materials do not give a schedule.
- Vortex: The company must do the contracted work and may face penalties for certain delays or other breaches.
Money#
The city authorized a total of $18,387,484.22, taxes included.
- The contract itself is $16,368,999.99, taxes included.
- The authorization also includes $1,636,900 for contingencies and $381,584.23 for related costs, both taxes included.
- City staff’s estimate was $18,403,915.72. Staff say the contract bid was 11.06% below that estimate.
- The materials give no separate estimate of the cost to property owners, if any, for work on private connections.
What is unclear#
- The contract’s duration, start date and street-by-street schedule are not stated in the supplied materials.
- The materials do not explain who pays for replacements in private sections or how affected owners will be notified.
- The bid information is inconsistent: it identifies Vortex and Pavages Métropolitain as compliant bids, but elsewhere says FER-PAL was the second-lowest bidder and was rejected for not meeting insurance requirements.
- The materials do not state the expected final cost if contingency funds are used.
Case for#
- City staff say pipe relining can be faster than excavation, reduce disruption to nearby infrastructure and speed up restoring streets.
- Combining pipe work with road and sidewalk repairs may allow the city to coordinate work on the same streets.
- Staff say Vortex’s bid was below the city’s estimate, and the contract includes penalties for specified delays.
Case against#
- Three firms bid, and the materials conflict about which bids were compliant. That makes the competition results harder to assess.
- The contract includes a substantial contingency budget, but the materials do not say how likely it is to be used.
- The materials do not set out the cost or payment arrangements for private-section replacements, which could matter to affected property owners.