United council demands LRT bid documents, outside review

In a unanimous vote, Ottawa city council has asked senior staffto produce documents related to the controversialSNC-Lavalin light rail bid, and is calling for an independent review of the procurement by fall.

How SNC-Lavalin came to winthe contract for the Stage 2 extension of the Trillium Line has been under scrutiny since CBCNews reported last March that the engineering giant's bidhad failed to meet the minimum70 per cent technical score.

• SNC-Lavalin failed to meet technical threshold for $1.6B LRT contract: sources

Last month, the city releaseddocuments showing why technical evaluators foundthe proposal lacking, including the revelation that SNC-Lavalin appeared to believe it was bidding on an electric system rather than a diesel one.

• SNC-Lavalin's 'poor' LRT bid should have been tossed, evaluators found
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Now, Ottawa city council has asked for all Trillium Line Stage 2 procurement documents to be released before the next meeting of the finance and economic development committee on March 3.

Some councillors wanted assurances they would see how SNC-Lavalinamended its bid after the technical scorecards and assured evaluators it could build a good train system.

"We plan to release everything, so everything will be in the public domain. You'll be able tosee it all," said city manager Steve Kanellakos.

Among those documents will also be the legal opinion provided by Norton Rose Fulbright on Oct. 23, 2018, about the evaluation of the Trillium Line Stage 2 bids. Council is asking to waive solicitor-client privilege so the letter can be released.

Council also wants to hire an independent consultantto produce a lessons learned report about Stage 2 procurement, building on the findings of the auditor general's investigation.

• City followed rules in awarding LRT contract to SNC-Lavalin: auditor

In an apparent detente, Mayor Jim Watson and Coun. Shawn Menardpresented the motion together.Menardhad previously prepared his own motion calling for a third-partyreview, possibly by the provincial ombudsman.

• Stage set for council showdown over LRT contract

"I appreciate the mayor and the rest of council moving in this direction. The public is demanding accountability on this now, and this [motion] gets us closer to that," said Menard.

For his part, Watson said he still has confidence in the procurement of Stage 2,but said it makes sense toanswer questions ahead of further LRT expansion, such as why the law firm could work for both SNC-Lavalin and the city.

"These are the kinds of things we need to examine in the review, bring an outsider to the table that would actually offer thatunvarnished, unbiased, point of view and see if we can't dobetter in the subsequent procurement ofStage 3," said Watson.

Twenty-two councillors voted in favour of the motion. Councillors Diane Deans and Rick Chiarelli were absent.

Council also decided that a review of its general policy on public-private partnerships should happen during the usual governance review at the mid-point of the2018-2022 term.