At least one Kelowna Councillor wants to ensure taxpayers are getting the best bang for its collective buck. During a routine contract award, Councillor Norm Letnick, questioned why two recent contracts were awarded through RFP (Request For Proposal), as opposed to tenders. "Is it possible in the future to get the matrix that staff have used to recommend awards for RFPs, because this is $1 million and we don't have any details as to how staff went about selecting this contract. Basically, we are being asked to trust staff, which is usually okay," says Letnick. "This is the second one we have received in the last two months."
Letnick was referring to Monday's awarding of a $900,000 Management Consultant contact to Jacobs Consultancy for the Air Terminal Building and Car Rental Facilities expansion at the Kelowna Airport, as well as a $54,000 contract to EBB Consulting for rabbit control. He says council needs to know the difference between the two and when they are supposed to be used. Staff has indicated it will brief council in the near future on the proper procedures for when a project has to go to RFP and when a project has to go to tender.
Council Services Supervisor, Stephen Fleming, says there are specific times when RFPs are used and when a project is put out to tender. A road project, for example, is a straight commodity and would go out to tender. Fleming says the rabbit control scenario was basically asking companies to bid on what steps would be taken to solve the problem. He says a tender is weighted toward price where an RFP looks at company history, reliability and how a job will be done, as well as price. Answers are weighted and scored.
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Don Quixote Note: In Vernon the contracts that are out for proposal or tender can be found at: (example of tender and request for proposal below)
- View All Open Requests
- Annual Contracts
- Expression of Interests
- Request for Disposals
- Request for Proposals
- Request for Quotations
- Request for Tenders
| PW-08-61 | TENDER | 30 Ave Upgrade- Alexis Park Dr to 41 St | May-15-2008 |
| BYL-08-77 | REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL | Property Maint. Direct Enforcement | Jun-26-2008 |
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