By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The Town of Brome Lake has received an official warning from the province’s public-sector financial regulator, the Autorité des marchés publics (AMP), after it granted a five-year contract for snow removal in the Iron Hill sector to an ineligible bidder.

The bidder, 9221-2745 Québec inc. was the only company to bid for the contract. According to the AMP decision, it “did not hold an authorization issued by the AMP on the date of its submission, although the amount of this submission ($1,214,136, taxes included) is higher than the government threshold [of $1 million] beyond which businesses must have an AMP authorization to bid.” The amount of the contract, just under $1.1 million including tax, also differs from the amount of the bid.

“The AMP also noted that on two occasions, the town negotiated the price of the bid received with the aim of ensuring that the final amount was lower than the government threshold. However, no negotiation is possible when it concerns a non-compliant submission; the town has therefore not respected the normative framework in force,” AMP communications director Stéphane Hawey said in a statement. “The city acknowledges that the submission received was not compliant.”

Brome Lake director general Gilbert Arel said the municipality was “very aware of the AMP rules” and town officials believed they were in the right. They were not aware, however, that the company lacked AMP authorization or that the final price with tax included would be above the $1 million threshold. He added that in past years, the municipality negotiated snow removal contracts for three seasons at a time, but that this contract was for five seasons; both the town and the company were managing a longer-term bid for the first time. The previous three-year contracts, he said, didn’t normally exceed the $1-million threshold.

“There was a complaint from another contractor who was aware that the bidder was not signed up, and [the AMP] started investigating,” said Arel. He said that since only one submission was received, officials believed they could negotiate one-on-one with the bidder in the hope of getting the amount below the threshold – which the AMP also took exception to. “That was the error we made,” Arel recalled.

The AMP recommended that the city end the contract at the end of the present season, put in place procedures to ensure that all bidders have the requisite authorization and scale up the training offered to employees – all of which the municipality plans to do. Another call for tenders for snow removal in Iron Hill will be launched in August.

No one from 9221-2745 Québec inc. could be immediately reached for comment Monday. “As far as we know [they are] in the process of signing up with the AMP,” Arel said.

Brome Lake will not face financial penalties because the AMP does not have the power to issue fines.