A Moment with the Mayor: Accepting a tender, understanding the process

Every time City Council meets, there are decisions to be made.

Decisions range from simply approving an agenda for a meeting to motions that result in spending millions of dollars on projects and infrastructure in our city. There are many times that we have the opportunity to award work on projects to local contractors who have the lowest bid. It’s always great to have our tax money stay within our community. We know that local employers, subcontractors and suppliers all benefit from the work completed in our community.

The tender process is not a new thing for our community. Whenever we undertake a project, we must follow the tendering rules laid out in the applicable trade agreements, which mainly include the Canadian Free Trade and the New West Partnership Trade agreements. This legislation stipulates the details of the tendering process and ensures that all tenders are handled the same way. The regulations contain details about how tenders are processed and ensure the bid chosen is made efficiently, fairly and transparent. This means we’re not allowed to select a local good or service provider just because they are local. The agreements that govern the acceptance of bids for tendering are not something we can pick and choose from; we must abide by all they contain. These agreements even go as far as imposing penalties against municipalities if the agreement is not abided by. The fines can be as high as $10 million based on the municipality’s population. We will always follow the rules that govern our processes.

We as a council always strive to be transparent, and our monthly Governance and Priorities Committee meetings are where we learn more about each upcoming project and get information to make informed decisions. As a council and community, we strive for fair competition and follow all contract laws. City administration follows a procurement process that ensures Lloydminster taxpayers see the best value for money spent on projects.

We all work to spend every dollar we can locally, and as a city, we appreciate all our local contractors, suppliers and vendors. At the same time, we’re also grateful for the outside vendors that work for the city and spend money in our businesses, hire local labour and support our community while they complete the projects they are working on.

Mayor Gerald S. Aalbers
City of Lloydminster