Content area
Full text
'The low bid system has been under question,' Clive Thurston OGCA president
Infrastructure Ontario (IO) is introducing a vendor of record (VOR) process for general contractors, architects, engineers and interior designers bidding on projects managed by the successor organization of Ontario Realty Corp.
The VOR lists will replace the current source lists, and IO is starting with general contractors in June, said Toni Rossi, executive vice-president of real estate management for the provincial crown corporation.
"The hurdle to get on the source list is not quite the same as the pre-qualification to get on the vendor of record list," she said.
IO aims to reduce the number of vendors bidding on any one project, to rotate vendors through so they get an opportunity to bid and to have stronger performance measurements.
Rossi said with the current process, many projects have 20 to 40 bids, but when the VOR is implemented, projects costing $100,000 to $750,000 would have at most five bidders while projects costing more would have a maximum of eight bidders.
The VOR list only applies to the real estate management division and not to the larger, more complex alternative financing...