Sign maker alleges unfairness on bids

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This article was published 19/11/2015 (3682 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg highway-signs manufacturer alleges the Province of Manitoba has spent two decades placing roadblocks in the way of competitive bids for signage work.

Airmaster Sales co-owner Keith MacCharles claims Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation has effectively prevented his Keewatin Avenue company from securing contracts to supply highway signs since the province privatized its own sign shop in 1993.

MacCharles says his firm was the leading supplier of highway signs to private construction companies before the province began demanding contractors buy directly from its sign shop, which was later sold to a Regina firm.

Unsuccessful efforts to wrest the contract away from that company, now owned by Edmonton’s Alberta Traffic Supply, have led MacCharles to complain to Manitoba’s auditor general about the manner in which the province procures highway signs.

“We always thought maybe we would just play it cool and try to convince them we’re a good local company. Well, we played too carefully for too many years, and now it’s just too much to take,” said MacCharles, whose company sells signs to Winnipeg, Brandon, Morden, Winkler, Portage la Prairie and other municipalities.

“We bid on contracts all the time, with different government agencies, and you’re never always low. But you also never see the same company win a contract for 20 years.”

MacCharles said the initial sale of the provincial sign shop included a long-term commitment to continue buying signs from the now-private company. He claims his firm was unfairly disqualified from a bid when the work was eventually tendered, first in 2001 and later in 2008.

This year, when the tender came up again, MacCharles said Airmaster did not submit a bid due to a new provincial requirement to post $290,000 worth of bid deposits and performance bonds.

“This is unprecedented. Nowhere else have we seen anything like it,” MacCharles said. “What they’re doing is discouraging competition.”

One of Airmaster’s competitors agreed with MacCharles’ contention the province has made it difficult for other companies to bid on highway-signs contracts.

“In the past, we have not even tried, because it’s so hard,” said Anita Bihun, general manager of Winnipeg’s Western Safety Sign, which also did not proceed with the 2015 tender.

“They opened it up to all sign companies, supposedly,” she said. “We backed out of the bid. It was just too difficult. It did sort of feel like ‘Let’s make this as hard as possible, so nobody can bid.’ “

The province rejects the allegations, insisting it does everything within its power to ensure the bidding process is open to all potential suppliers.

“It’s always in our interest to have as much competition as possible,” said Richard Burelle, director of the procurement services branch within Manitoba Finance.

He said the highway-signs contract involves highly technical work conducted under narrow specifications. “This is a critical contract,” he said.

Burelle also rejected the notion the $290,000 worth of deposits and bonds serves as a barrier for prospective bidders. “Other companies within that industry seem to be able to respond,” he said.

MacCharles said he wishes the province would cancel the existing contract with the subsidiary of Alberta Traffic Supply and reissue it in a more transparent manner. “The favouritism has got to stop. It’s not in the best interest of the taxpayer.”

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca