Found this gem tonight online, courtesy of the Surrey Leader , with respect to the significant change in the partners of the Fraser Transportation Group – AFTER the pre-qualified bidders were approved ( meaning, how could these new partners be qualified – if they entered the bidding process AFTER the Request for Proposals? And did the Ministry advise the other bidders of the change when it occurred? :
Ledcor was not previously listed in the Fraser Transportation Group and has replaced former equity partner Zachry American Infrastructure of Texas.
Last year, the province gave up on a struggling financing partner for the $3.3-billion Port Mann/Highway 1 expansion project and opted instead to directly borrow all the money.
Ministry officials would not say why the equity partners in the perimeter road have now been changed.
“For internal reasons they needed to amend the makeup of their consortium,” ministry spokesman Dave Crebo said.
Internal reasons…. indeed. Methinks Dave believes no one really knows how the procurement process works with the MOT.
Dave would be horribly mistaken about that…
Westcoast Views with Laila Yuile 
Well Laila, I’ve got well over 50 years experience with the Ministry’s procedures and I certainly don’t know how the procurement process works any more. So Dave is probably right – no one really knows how it works. Or maybe I didn’t make it far enough up the understanding ladder. It seems the rules are adjusted to fit the situation. But who knows what the situation is? I don’t, after 50 + years. (Does this identify me?) How in the world does the average neophyte identify with the problem? Keep it up, but Palmer isn’t the answer as we both know!
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You see, you do know how the procurement process works John !
The rule are adjusted to fit the situation, and while I ( we) may not know exactly what happened right now with this so called “pre-qualified” bidder, you can be damned sure I am going to find out. And you are right, Palmer is not the solution. Procurement isn’t sexy, isn’t sensational enough for hard copy press, but the stories behind the confusing terms and industry jargon that prohibit the average person from even trying to get in, are very real, and full of lies, treachery and cover-ups. One word. Tercon.
Everyone should be concerned about how much money these bids cost the public, and why it is still happening. When the financing for the Port Mann went belly up, Kevin Falcon announced that the government would do the project themselves :
True enough, the government does get lower financing rates than any contractor ever could. Sure, no initial lump sum payments, but in the long run the crazy interest being added to the contractor payback in a P3 situation is going to far outweigh what it would cost as a strictly government only project.
Why the continual PR that P3’s are the way to go? Why the continual shove for a highway built on and near sensitive and fertile grounds, through neighbourhoods where children live and play and will be exposed to the increase in exhaust emissions, when the economic and trade growth this project was based on hasn’t happened, and likely won’t for some time? Clearly, there are issues here that need to be given some air time and debate, although I don’t see the allegedly mighty NW doing it. This project does not make sense on any front, whether it be financially, environmentally, and now, I would say ethically as well, with all the questions surrounding the preferred bidder.
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[…] However, something happened between April 2009 and the date of the next press release in May of 2010, that announced who the successful bidder was – that not only had a major change had been made in the corporate makeup of the winning bidder, but that the completion date had suddenly been delayed for a year, with no explanation given. […]
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