WESTLOCK — Westlock County councillors passed a motion during their June 11 meeting awarding a contract for the replacement of a bridge culvert along Range Road 24 approximately 14 km northeast of Neerlandia at a cost of just over $277,000, excluding GST.
The contract was awarded to TerraPro Inc., who submitted the lowest bid among five companies.
As noted in a report to council, the capital project had been advertised on the Alberta Purchasing Connection website from May 16 to June 6. The five bids ranged in price from TerraPro’s low bid to a high of just over $350,000.
When asked about a timeline for the project, general manager of infrastructure services James Plain said that if the company gets to work right away, “it shouldn’t disrupt any farming that’s going on right now.”
Reeve Christine Wiese also asked if more criteria was used to assess the contractor beyond just going with the lowest bid.
She pointed out that when the county awarded a contract of more than $620,000 for the installation of navigational lighting and general electrical work at the Westlock Airport, the engineering firm overseeing the project used an evaluation process that gauged which contractor was most qualified to do the job.
In a letter that accompanied the council package, MPA Engineering stated they had reviewed all five bids, and although the firm had limited prior history with TerraPro, they had reached out to StanTec Consulting about the contractor and their feedback was positive.
Based on a meeting with the contractor regarding a completely different project, “they seemed knowledgeable and capable of completing the work,” MPA Engineering said.
Plain also mentioned to council that administration will be coming to a future meeting with a list of high-priority bridge projects and how they might be addressed.
“I think it’s time we brought that up again and just have a look at it so council is familiar with some of these locations,” he said.
