RC123 MarApr 2026 - Magazine - Page 25
When a municipality prioritizes awarding contracts to the lowest bidder,
important factors like quality, durability, delivery speed and long-term
value are often overlooked.
BREAKING THE LOW-BID CYCLE
The use of evaluation-based procurement for municipal
infrastructure projects by Lauren Belayneh
VERY CANADIAN is more familiar than they’d like to be with
the pains of co-existing with a construction project that
seems to take far longer than it should. It feels like the
work is never done—every summer, in almost every
neighbourhood, streets are being torn up for infrastructure to be replaced or rehabilitated.
What many don’t realize is that many of the 昀氀aws in these
construction projects—rushed work, unreliable infrastructure, projects that seem to never be 昀椀nished—start with the
procurement process.
Many municipalities across the country prioritize lowest-price bids over long-term value, quality or speed.
E
The core procurement challenge
“There are often reasons for delays that the public does not
see,” explained Patrick Maginn, President and CEO at CoreAqua, the parent company of Niedner, a Canadian manufacturer of lay-昀氀at industrial hoses, and FERPAL Infrastructure,
a leader in trenchless watermain rehabilitation that uses
AquaPipe’s Cured-In-Place Pipe (CIPP) technology.
When a municipality prioritizes awarding contracts to
the lowest bidder, important factors like quality, durability,
delivery speed and long-term value are often overlooked.
Although the goal of a low-bid procurement process is to
protect taxpayer dollars, it can unintentionally encourage
contractors to cut corners to reduce costs rather than prioritize e昀케ciency or long-term performance. This approach can
then lead to higher maintenance costs, shorter asset lifespans,
and reduced public trust in infrastructure outcomes.
Joe Accardi, president of Accardi Engineering Group,
agrees that delays and ine昀케ciencies often start at the procurement stage. “It often takes a long time for procurement
results to be public. “There are long waits for scoring and
award results, which makes planning very di昀케cult for contractors.”
Accardi also points to missing or incomplete tender information as a persistent issue. “Sometimes there’s missing
survey data or subsurface utility data that create con昀氀icts
on site. Those end up increasing project costs and can delay
work further if new approvals are needed.”
Many projects end up with a delay of three months or
more from bid closing to contract award. Because municipal
budgets are typically approved in January, projects can’t
move forward until spring, meaning construction often
doesn’t start until April at the earliest. This delayed timeline
ends up compressing most work into the summer, leading to
congested streets, prolonged disruptions and lower-quality
results as projects are rushed to 昀椀nish before winter.
“As a contractor, there is a clear bene昀椀t to bidding and
winning work earlier in the year, but it also works to the
bene昀椀ts of a resident. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the construction in your area done by June?” explains Maginn. “If
budget approval is required before projects can be tendered,
there tends to be a log jam where seasonal work is delayed
being released, and there is a rush to complete it all at the
same time.”
Accardi adds that municipalities are often pressed to get
projects done within certain timelines to 昀椀t within their budgets. “Sometimes things are missed or not done to their full
potential just to meet those budgeting deadlines.”
Plus, procurement can be di昀케cult to navigate without consistency. The Municipal Act requires all Ontario municipalities
to maintain formal procurement policies that outline evaluation criteria and dollar-value thresholds. This does ensure a
level of transparency and accountability at the local level, but it
also creates a patchwork of rules that vary across jurisdictions.
Vendors working with multiple municipalities face challenges as a result, as they must navigate di昀昀erent requirements,
thresholds and evaluation processes for each contract.
Adopting an evaluation-based approach
Some municipalities have adopted a progressive two-stage
procurement process designed to balance fairness, competition and long-term value in public purchasing. In the
昀椀rst stage, bidders must meet a set of mandatory minimum
requirements, such as technical quali昀椀cations, safety records,
experience, or proof of product testing. This ensures that only
capable and reliable contractors or suppliers advance. In the
second stage, quali昀椀ed bidders are evaluated using a scoring
system that weighs multiple factors: quality, product lifespan,
innovation, environmental impact, delivery timelines and
price, for instance.
Lauren Beylaneh is the
Associate Editor of ReNew
Canada and Water Canada.
MARCH/APRIL 2026 – RENEW CANADA 25
