City to test industry-accepted contracts for four projects

The city will test out standardized construction contracts this year, with a goal to attract more bidders and reduce the cost to taxpayers.

Staff will replace typical City of Winnipeg agreements with Canadian Construction Documents Committee contracts for four projects in Winnipeg’s 2026 capital plan, including road work on sections of Arlington Street, Burnett Avenue and Gateway Road.

In an email, city spokesman David Driedger declined to specify the fourth project Friday, stating more information on that would be released “in the coming days.”

Mayor Scott Gillingham said the city has been asked to replace its local contracts with the CCDC format since around 2005.

“It’s contracts that companies that work across Canada are familiar with… It will result in more companies bidding on City of Winnipeg work, which will drive prices down and make sure we’re getting better… value for money for Winnipeg taxpayers,” said Gillingham.

During his election campaign, the mayor said construction companies pushed for the change.

Some companies don’t bid on City of Winnipeg projects now because of the unique terms that raise their risk level beyond that of other jobs, said Darryl Harrison, director of stakeholder engagement and advocacy for the Winnipeg Construction Association.

For example, the city’s typical dispute resolution process allows its own chief financial officer or chief administrative officer to make final decisions to resolve disputes between the city and a contractor. He said that process is used when the two sides disagree on the price of work added to a project when it is underway, as well as to resolve project delays.

“Ultimately, the decision on how the dispute is resolved is by the City of Winnipeg (and) contractors aren’t comfortable with that process … (They’re) not sure if they would get a fair hearing in in this scenario,” said Harrison.

He said the standardized CCDC contracts require such disputes to be settled through mediation or arbitration with a neutral third party.

His association has been advocating for those standards to be applied to all city construction projects for 20 years.

“We definitely expect there will be more contractors interested in working for the city with … these (CCDC) contracts … It (also) provides way better value for tax dollars because the City of Winnipeg will expect more contractors bidding on these projects … (so) you get a more competitive price,” he said.

Harrison said current city contracts are also more complicated than the ones set to be tested. The standardized contracts spell out all job requirements within one clear section, while City of Winnipeg agreements can require the reader to jump back and forth between different parts of the document to find that information, he said.

“In the vast majority of construction contracts … a CCDC contract is used, so contractors (also) know and understand the rules of the build and they know and understand how risk is allocated,” said Harrison.

“(There are) contractors that will always be using CCDC documents, understand the document, understand what their obligations are and what the owner’s obligations are under the contract and then they’re faced with a brand new one with the city and they don’t understand it,” he said.

The Canadian standard contracts were created and frequently updated with input from contractors, engineers, architects and property owners, with a goal to ensure they’re deemed fair to all parties, said Harrison.

“It’s constantly evolving,” he said.

After the pilot project, the city hopes to broaden the use of CCDC contracts next year.

— With files from Malak Abas

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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