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City council discusses construction management for new fire hall project

Lloydminster city council is reviewing construction leaders for the new fire hall project.

A request for proposal was issued for a construction manager and closed on November 2 with a total of 16 bids coming into the city. Bids ranged from $161,000 to $458,000 and Chandos Construction Ltd. in Edmonton was recommended by administration. Chandos scored the highest according to the city’s criteria and was also the lowest bidder with $161,000.

Mayor Gerald Aalbers says it’s incredible to see that number of bids on a project and reflects the activity in the industry.

“[Bids came] from some of the largest companies in Canada to local businesses to businesses located in Edmonton and Saskatoon that do this on a regular-basis. We have a broad selection of people indicating they were interested and submitted bids. It’s a terrific sign that the construction industry is busy.”

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Senior Capital Infrastructure Manager James Rogers, who presented the report to council, speculates the price differential to come from how each company has streamlined their own internal processes as all companies received the same package and specifications.

It was noted in the Governance and Priorities Committee meeting, part of the criteria evaluated each company’s general construction management experience and was not solely focused on if they had previously worked on fire halls. Chandos has worked on fire halls and other emergency services through Integrated Project Delivery and Design-Build methods.

“There was a small portion of the scoring afforded to previously doing a emergency services building,” says Councillor Aaron Buckingham. “It played 3 points out of a possible 100. It wasn’t that we were looking for someone who had 17 fire halls under their belt. It was the best suited for the job.”

Under the construction management method, the chosen company will work alongside the fire hall designers, ACI Architect Inc., to procure the costs and crew for the actual build of the facility. The company indicated to the city that they would try and keep as many jobs local as possible as part of their process. While the construction management company may be in charge of procurement, the city will still have oversight how the money is spent on the project.

“At the end of the day, like Councillor Diachuk says, we’re here to be good stewards of the communities finances and money as we build a major project. It’s our job to ask tough questions and get answers and we’re getting the product we need to have while within the budgetary constraints and serving the communities budgetary needs as well.”

A decision will be made at the next city council meeting on November 30. A final cost of construction of the new fire hall will also come back to city council for approval at a later meeting.

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