Steve Payne
"Restrictive bidding" by municipalities and other owners costing taxpayers $283-million annual on publically-funded construction projects, group claims
Canadian Contractor canada"At a time when the province and municipalities are struggling to stretch infrastructure dollars, this report is a must read," said Sean Reid, PCA Vice President, Federal and Ontario.
Editor’s Note: I know you will all be shocked – shocked, I say – to hear that the Canadian taxpayer is, a prominent construction association argues, paying hundreds of millions too much for publically-funded construction projects.
This press release was sent to us yesterday by the Progressive Contractors Association (PCA), the “voice of progressive unionized employers in Canada’s construction industry.” The member companies of the PCA employ more than 25,000 skilled construction workers across Canada.
PCA Welcomes Report On Construction Savings
Toronto (Sept 9th, 2014) – The Progressive Contractors Association of Canada welcomes a report released today by the Cardus think tank that suggests there’s a straightforward way of saving up to $283 million annually on publically funded construction projects.
“At a time when the province and municipalities are struggling to stretch infrastructure dollars, this report should be a must read,” said Sean Reid, PCA Vice President, Federal and Ontario. “We hope the report kick starts those needed conversations about how the public can get better value from public infrastructure spending.”
The Cardus report called “Savings Hiding in Plain Sight” shows that in Toronto and several other cities, restrictive bidding has driven up the cost of publicly funded construction projects by 20 to 30 percent.
“The Cardus findings clearly point out the major savings possible by allowing municipalities and other owners to tender public construction projects in an open and fair manner,” Reid added.
The Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA) is the voice of progressive unionized employers in Canada’s construction industry. Its member companies employ more than 25,000 skilled construction workers across Canada
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Restrictive bidding is the result of a holistic approach to the funding of economic drivers.
Looking only at bottom line cost ignores the wider economics behind, and derived from, public project funding.
If a jurisdiction wants to ensure that it maintains a healthy economy, restrictive bidding can help to accomplish that, by ensuring stronger infrastructures, built by better-paid (and therefore higher-skilled), workers, using higher-quality materials, and resulting in a much stronger velocity of money due to the disposable income available to these higher skilled workers.