Summary#
Montréal city council adopted a decision to award eight snow-clearing contracts for four winter seasons, ending April 15, 2030. The city’s Service de la concertation des arrondissements et de l’expérience citoyenne will plan the operations and manage the tender process; the decision’s stated aim is to provide snow-clearing services in four boroughs.
- The contracts go to five firms for Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Lachine, Outremont and the Sud-Ouest:
- CMS - Entrepreneurs généraux inc.: two contracts, $8,999,704.92 and $19,596,782.80.
- 175784 Canada inc. (Bricon): one contract, $20,968,089.50.
- Ecovrac 2024 inc.: two contracts, $5,600,680.93 and $4,336,387.43.
- Pépinière Michel Tanguay inc.: one contract, $11,497,499.98.
- 9055-0344 Québec inc. (DM Choquette): two contracts, $7,636,179.60 and $13,141,353.68.
- These contract amounts include taxes but exclude contingency and quantity-variation budgets. The city also authorized those additional budgets.
- The work includes clearing roads, sidewalks, some alleys and bike paths; supplying and spreading de-icers and abrasives on sidewalks; and loading snow and, where needed, blowing it to the roadside.
- The contracts were awarded through a public call for tenders. The city says the awards went to the lowest compliant bids under the most economical overall scenario. There were 17 bids across the tender.
What it means for you#
- Residents of the four boroughs: The contracts cover the listed snow-clearing work for four winter seasons. They do not set out a new resident application or complaint process.
- Businesses receiving contracts: They must provide the contracted services. The city will evaluate their performance at the end of the contracts.
- Residents of other areas: These eight awards do not cover the Plateau-Mont-Royal. Two Plateau lots were cancelled because the bids were considered too costly.
Money#
The city authorized a total expenditure of $110,132,014.61, taxes included.
- The eight contract amounts total $91,776,678.84, taxes included, before contingency and quantity variations.
- The city separately authorized $4,588,833.94 for contingencies and $13,766,501.83 for quantity variations, both taxes included.
- City staff say the awarded prices were 12.97% below the city’s estimate, excluding the Plateau-Mont-Royal lots.
What is unclear#
- The supplied material does not give the detailed budget lines or identify which city accounts will pay each amount.
- It does not explain how residents can report service problems or how the city will monitor work during each winter.
- The decision authorizes contingency and quantity-variation budgets but the supplied material does not show when or how much of those budgets will be used.
Case for#
- City staff say the awarded prices are below the city’s estimate, even after accounting for inflation, fuel costs and labour shortages.
- Staff say changes to lot sizes, equipment flexibility and payment terms helped make bids more attractive and increased competition.
- The tender’s combined-lot approach let the city choose what staff describe as the most economical overall award scenario.
Case against#
- The city authorized $18.36 million in contingency and quantity-variation budgets on top of the eight contract amounts; the supplied material does not show how much will be spent.
- City staff report that two Sud-Ouest contracts had only one compliant bid each. Some other contracts were referred for review because of large price gaps against estimates or other compliant bids.
- The Plateau-Mont-Royal lots were cancelled because of high prices, so this decision does not provide those services through these contracts.