SUNDRE — The municipality has agreed to sign a two-year contract with another engineering firm.
The former agreement with CIMA+ expires in April, and council heard from administration during the March 14 meeting that eight qualified companies responded to the town’s request for proposals (RFP).
“Services involve providing advice and recommendations based on day-to-day requirements from the municipality, as well as recommendations on upcoming municipal capital projects, developer plans and contributions, studies, master plan updates, and other services where engineering is required,” Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer, told council.
The request for proposals was posted in January and closed on Feb. 14, she said.
“I must say, there was some very good responses,” she said. “As this is a critical service that impacts the town’s levels of service, administration engaged a third-party engineering firm — and that was Magna Engineering Services — that did not intend to respond to the RFP, to assist in the review of all responses.”
Nelson then drew council’s attention to a matrix used to break down specific services sought by the municipality and rank the most suitable candidates.
The responses submitted were scored based on areas of interest including relevant project experience and understanding of the municipality; methodology such as client management, company culture and capital projects process; administrative strength on matters like response time and communication strategy; project team experience and quality of references; overall profile on experience pertaining to for example water, wastewater, as well as development and subdivision reviews or approvals; and the price of hourly rates for lead and secondary engineers as well as the next highest staff members.
“Although price was not the most relevant consideration, we still did place a high weight on that area,” said Nelson.
Even so, she said the respondent considered by administration to be the most successful based on scoring higher than all of the others on the areas of focus identified above, also came in at the low end of the cost spectrum on the eight proposals received.
Additionally, six people completed a review of the RFP responses, including three from the engineering firm contracted as well as three town staff members, she said.
“These reviews were independent of each other,” she said. “Interestingly, all of the reviewers came up with the highest score for the same proponent.”
Council proceeded to carry a motion supporting the request to enter into an engineering services agreement with McElhanney for a period of two years, with two options to renew for two years for each term, and that the CAO be authorized to sign the contract on the municipality’s behalf.
