September 25, 2008

Canadian Construction Association Board Meeting

Thirty-day limit to bid-approvals process draws support from CCA members

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

WINNIPEG

The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) needs to look at getting owners to use bid-approval processes of no longer than 30 days, say some of its members.

Serge Massicotte, president of Massicotte Bros. Construction Ltd. and a member of CCA’s general contractors council and executive committee, said the association should encourage owners to realize that a 30-day review period is as beneficial to them as it is the construction industry.

“You have in some places 60 and 90 days for review and in these inflationary days that does not work,” said Massicotte.

“It is a problem that keeps on happening and is only getting worse.”

Massicotte said that the lengthy review periods are compounded by fluctuating and ever-rising costs for materials. By the time work is awarded, the bottom line on submitted bids is not accurate or bids are simply invalid. It was during CCA’s recent September 14, 2008 meeting that Massicotte made his call for an initiative to impress upon owners the benefits of a 30-day approval period.

John Schubert, managing partner of McCaine Electric Limited and member of CCA’s trade contractors council and executive committee, said tender times are being extended and “volatile” markets for materials, like copper wire, are not allowing for firm prices.

Massicotte suggest that manufacturers and suppliers also need to be approached and asked to hold their prices firm for 30 days, where applicable, because this would also help keep bids valid. A hold on these prices would help reduce the number of bids, including premiums meant to compensate and offset any material increases.

Schubert added he did not want to “go down the road of escalation clauses” in bids, but the construction industry needs to get owners to “appreciate” a 30-day approval period.

A push to remind owners and construction-service buyers to reduce bid-approval times has also occurred in Ottawa, thanks to the General Contractors Association of Ottawa and the Ottawa Construction Association.

In this partnership, a bid-approval process of 15 days is being championed instead of the usual 30- to 90-day period. Rising material and commodity prices for items such as copper and asphalt prompted the Ottawa-area initiative.

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