By Patrick Newhook/January 27, 2022
Mount Pearl has come up against some issues in trying to replace equipment in its snow fleet.
The original plan, according to the budget, was that the city would spend $2.1 million on fleet renewal this year. “This investment will ensure we can maintain service standards and public safety for important core services such as snow clearing or both roadways and sidewalks,” said councilor Isabelle Fry.
The city put out tenders for two heavy duty tandem trucks, and awarded the contract to Harvey & Company Limited last March. According to Fry, Public Works has since received a notice that the trucks will now be more expensive than tendered.
“On November 26, the Public Works committee received a letter from Harvey & Company Limited stating that there would be a cost increase, or a commodity surcharge, applied to the price of each unit,” said Fry. “This increase is a result of material costs increases due to unanticipated supply chain issues.”
Supply chains have been impacted by the ongoing pandemic, causing costs to rise due to parts shortages. The price hike for each truck is some $4,750 plus HST. Originally, the trucks were tendered at a cost of $598,482, HST included.
“The committee recommends that the commodity surge charge on the two heavy duty tandems purchased under TP-003 be supported in the total amount $10,925 HST included which can be accommodated in the fleet budget,” said Fry.
Mayor Dave Aker said the situation is a unique one. “Councilor Fry, in all my time on council, and yours, we’ve never seen a situation like this have we?” said Aker.
According to Fry, Harvey & Company did offer the opportunity to step away from the tenure, but Fry said that no matter which company the City buys from, supply issues will persist.
Aker asked about retendering, but infrastructure and public works director Gerry Antle said if they did so cost increases would be the same or possibly higher and it wouldn’t improve delivery time. Antle also pointed out the city needs to replace its current fleet for safety reasons.
Councilor Jim Locke said he supported the recommendations for reasons of safety.
Meanwhile, Aker said that the motion could set a bad precedent, and he asked CAO Dana Spurrell what her thoughts on the matter were.
“We’ve looked at our options and we’ve looked at the tender ability period and our next closest bid, and we’re outside our tender ability period,” said Spurrell. “I have spoken to other municipalities. We’re not unique, other municipalities and other organizations are facing the same challenges. We certainly could re-tender, but I’m not sure it would bring any better results or any more favor of the timelines. In fact, as Director Antle said, we’d be held up, and these are two pieces of equipment that we need. So, I think it’s something that we need to allow for and to account for in the future, but right now this is the best course of action to take."
Put to a vote, Fry's motion passed unanimously.