June 29, 2006

Gold Seal

N.B. first to apply condition of contract

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

TORONTO

A groundbreaking move by the government of New Brunswick to require Gold Seal certification as a condition of contract has proven to be “a win-win” for the parties involved, government and industry officials say.

Under the policy, which came into effect in April 1996, general contractors undertaking capital projects in excess of $1 million are required to have a Gold Seal-certified superintendent or project manager on the job.

Likewise, mechanical and electrical contractors undertaking projects in excess of $400,000 must have a Gold-Seal certified superintendent or project manager involved.

New Brunswick is the only province in Canada to have implemented such a requirement.

It applies only to ICI projects undertaken by the government.

“It’s interesting to us that there hasn’t been more take-up of this program,” says Ashley Cummings, assistant deputy minister of the Department of Supply and Services. His department is on the front line of construction procurement.

Implemented three years after the Gold Seal program was launched at a Canadian Construction Association (CCA) convention, the New Brunswick policy was put in place as a compromise to contractor licensing.

“It has enhanced the industry — it’s as simple as that.”

Lin Hupman - CANB

“Back in the early 1990s, we proposed to the industry that they partner with us and undertake some form of licensing, some sort of arrangement whereby we could qualify contractors,” Cummings said.

“We asked if there was any interest in doing this. There wasn’t. So we backed off and took a different approach. Almost concurrently, the Gold Seal program got off the ground.

“We had taken a hard look at it. It seemed to have a lot of merit in terms of stressing what we thought was needed — a higher level of professionalism, good management skills and an awareness of the big picture in terms of what it takes to be a contractor and deal with owners and professionals.”

The Gold Seal program was piloted in Atlantic Canada.

The New Brunswick government gave the industry “lots of notice” to ensure there would be a sufficient supply of certified superintendents and project managers on hand. The policy was announced in September 1995.

“We wanted to make sure there were enough people available, so that we wouldn’t be in a non-competitive environment when we did our procurement,” Cummings said. “We didn’t want all these projects going to a handful of companies that might have people with the certification credentials.”

Cummings, whose department is responsible for design and construction of government buildings in the province, estimated that “probably half” of the government contracts awarded in recent years have been subject to the policy.

The department’s capital budget for the current fiscal year is $168 million.

“Right now, the thresholds seem to be working,” said Cummings, a professional engineer who worked for a contractor prior to joining the government.

“We’re quite pleased with the outcome.”

So, apparently, is the construction industry.

“There’s no question this has been a win-win for the government, the contractors and the employees,” said Lin Hupman, a past president of the Construction Association of New Brunswick (CANB).

Hupman, who now acts as an adviser to CANB, a federation of six associations, said implementation of the policy has “raised the bar” in terms of professionalism in the industry.

“It has enhanced the industry — it’s as simple as that,” he said.

“It also gives those (certified) employees an opportunity to go anywhere in Canada. It gives them the same mobility that the Red Seal program does for the trades.”

Gold Seal is a national certification program for construction project managers, superintendents and estimators. To date, there have been more than 6,000 certificates issued — including 455 in the province of New Brunswick.

“It’s gone really well,” said CANB executive director Hilary Howes, who has held his current position for more than a decade.

“In fact, it’s been such a popular program that I believe we have the highest concentration of Gold Seal holders on a per capita basis in the country.”

Howes said there has been “a huge increase” this year in the number of applications in the province. The association does an initial review, before forwarding applications to the CCA in Ottawa.

“That’s a really positive sign for us,” he said. “What this shows is that there is a good level of interest being generated and that the younger guys who are moving into construction management positions are interested in getting certified.”

Down the road, the industry would like to see the contract value threshold lowered for Gold Seal as a condition of contract. But that doesn’t appear to be in the cards, at least for the time being.

“The industry would like us to drop our threshold,” Cummings said. “But we’ve said that the market probably isn’t conducive to doing that at the moment, largely because many of our trades people and a lot of our superintendents are working elsewhere in the country.

“I don’t think the need or benefit is there right now. Maybe when the market cools down a bit, we can do an analysis of how that (reducing contract thresholds) would impact us in a positive way.”

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