Where Was AG’s Office On This LRT Woe?
The city auditor general’s office and the audit committee let the investigation in the awarding of the Trillium contract slip off the AG’s workplan.
Now we find this:
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The City of Ottawa’s private partner in building its newly re-opened north-south commuter rail line is facing more than $100 million in legal claims alleging its inability to properly manage the project led to costly delays.
AtkinsRéalis, the rebranded engineering giant formerly known as SNC-Lavalin, won the $1.6-billion contract to expand and maintain the diesel Trillium Line through a newly created subsidiary called TransitNext — despite failing the technical round during the bidding process.
OC Transpo began a phased opening of the line this month, more than two years later than expected.
Documents filed in a handful of civil cases provide a window into the pandemic-challenged building process, which continued alongside the troubled opening of the east-west Confederation Line and the resulting public inquiry.
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Now the province should call a public inquiry into the awarding of the Trillium Line contract, the subsequent work on the project and whether the city, the audit committee and auditor general’s office didn’t probe this Trillium Line issue adequately.
To read the full CBC story on this issue, click here.
For You:
New Light-Rail Ridership: Pick A Number, Any Number
Suburbs Better Than Downtown: THE VOTER
You’re On Your Own Orleans: DAN STANKOVIC
Bookmark The Bulldog, click here
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– The Bulldog – News Feed Enter 
And so the chickens come home to roost. This is what results when you give a contract to a company that’s failed the qualification round. How many local companies are being screwed and potentially run out of business as a result of this fiasco?
My question is why are we only hearing about this now? It’s been going on for years. Will there be maintenance and other issues that will pop up in the future after these construction companies are long gone that will fall to the City or OC Transpo to fund?
Don’t be surprised when (not if) AtkinsRéalis files its Statement of Defense that it names the City of Ottawa/OC Transpo as a culprit, in particular as it relates to the reason whey the LRT station designs took so long to finalize.
Ron:
I wonder how much money the ex-SNC has?
We know the city has lots with the backing of the entire population of Ottawa. I’d be going after the people with the money.
cheers
kgray
Ken, the city has a long track record of failing to provide precise specifications, and of changing the specifications on its projects.
The Confederation Line route changed a couple of times, including moving the station from behind the Rideau Centre to the front – all the better for a sink hole. The specifications for train set that Alstom bid on were not the final ones. The LRT Commissioner’s report cited a few others.
Keep in mind those Confed Line related confidential settlements that were reported to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Settlements of that order of magnitude don’t happen unless there is a reason. And the political will to keep the dirty laundry out of the public courts.
So, let’s not be surprised that the city was making frequent, minor changes to the specifications for the Trillium Line stations. Frequent minor changes add up. They add up in idle hours. They add up in re-working the designs. They add up in cancelling long range orders.
As for SNC/AtkinsRealis, their record stands for itself.