Rob Pattison, head of LRT for Ontario Provincial Infrastructure, told the committee Tuesday morning that he had been told “the budget was not under discussion” and was concerned that no one would bid for the LRT project. 12.5 km, which opened late in 2019. “This is the amount the city had to spend,” Pattison said. “And, you know, that raised the flag, you may have a failed supply.” CLOCKS His concerns about the low budget:

LRT low budget has left some worried about a ‘failed supply’, according to the survey

Rob Pattison, who was head of the Ontario Infrastructure LRT division, says he is concerned that the budget was too low for companies to respond and would lead to few or no bidders for the project. Even the former city manager overseeing LRT supply told the survey in an interview on May 30 that it was worrying that bidders might not be able to put together proposals that met the price cap, especially as the tunnel in the center of the city posed some danger to the builders. “Personally, I do not know if I ever felt comfortable until the day we opened the bids and had hints that we could move on,” Kent Kirkpatrick told a commission lawyer. In the end, however, two of the three winning joint ventures had bids in the $ 2.1 billion dossier, including Rideau Transit Group (RTG), which won with the highest score. The many problems of the Confederation Line, especially the two derailments last summer, led the province to request a public inquiry into what went wrong with the project. (Jean Delisle / CBC)

Budget ceiling under control

The Ottawa LRT public inquiry, called by the county last fall, is investigating what commercial and technical issues may have led to problems in the Confederation Line, starting as planned and especially the two derailments last summer. The commission, led by Ontario Court of Appeals Judge William Hourigan, reviewed the project somewhat chronologically and spent the first two days focusing on the procurement process – including whether the project’s budget size could limit the quality of the line. The $ 2.1 billion budget for the LRT was set in 2009, but it was preliminary: it was before any detailed engineering was completed and did not take inflation into account. At the same time, the federal and provincial governments at the time had pledged to contribute only $ 600 million each to the project. In the years that followed, the city and its experts found ways to keep the project within budget, including shortening the downtown tunnel, making it shallower, and shortening the station platforms – all issues who is expected to be former deputy Nancy Schepers was asked when she appeared in the investigation on Wednesday afternoon.

Trust the professional offers

Investigative lawyers have pressed witnesses over whether the city’s budget rigidity affected the quality of the project and whether there was political pressure to keep the price down.
“Were there any discussions about whether the budget or the ceiling posed a risk or increased the risk that the private sector would over-promise in its bids to bring it below the ceiling or cover the budget?” Commissioner Kate McGrann asked former treasurer Marian Simulik on Tuesday afternoon. Kate McGrann, co-head consultant for tram research in Ottawa, spent hours interviewing former city treasurer Marian Simulik about the Cofnederation Line budget and funding model. (Frédéric Pepin / Radio Canada) Simulik not only denied such discussions, but said the city was convinced that the bidding consortia – which consisted of giant multinationals – would make professional proposals. “We basically trusted the private sector to act reasonably and produce a document or bid that reflected the cost they thought it would be,” Simulik told the commission. Pattison also said Tuesday that the fact that two price-compatible proposals were submitted was proof that the budget seemed feasible to the highly experienced companies bidding for the project. Both Simulik and Pattison said it was not uncommon for a project to be budgeted for, something the lawyers for the investigation suggested could happen. The longtime former treasurer of the city of Ottawa, Marian Simulik, appeared on June 14, 2022 before the committee investigating the Confederate Line. (Kate Porter / CBC) Pattison said that sometimes “there is a number and you can not get over it and you are ready [scale it back] or kill the project if you can not fit in that number. “ The investigation heard that the city’s request for proposals included an emergency plan in the event that all bidders went over the budget, which would require additional approval by the council. Along with Schepers, John Traianopoulos of Infrastructure Ontario is on Wednesday’s audition schedule.