Summary
Rescinding of the Contract for the
Rental of a Hydraulic Excavator
Awarded Under Call for Tenders
14-13430
(section 57.1.10 of Montréal’s City Charter)
August 14, 2015
SUMMARY
The Office of Inspector General (hereinafter: OIG) received information relative to the awarding of a contract for the rental of a hydraulic excavator in the Ville-Marie borough (contract awarded to Excavation R. Lécuyer & Fils Inc. as part of call for tenders 14- 13430).
It would appear that this three-year contract, in the amount of $1,327,961.25, is being performed in contravention of major requirements stipulated in the call for tenders: the equipment provided by Excavation R. Lécuyer & Fils Inc. does not appear to meet the criteria set out in the borough’s technical specifications.
Consequently, the OIG conducted a thorough investigation to verify the validity of call for tenders 14-13430 and make a determination as to the successful bidder’s compliance with the requirements set out in the call for tenders. During its investigation, the OIG met with 25 witnesses, namely employees of the Ville-Marie borough, of the Rolling stock and workshops Service (Service du matériel roulant et des ateliers) and of the Procurement Service (Service de l’approvisionnement), companies that had requested to obtain the specifications as well as the contractor who won call for tenders 14-13430, i.e., Excavation
R. Lécuyer & Fils Inc. The OIG also conducted two (2) site visits and inspected the equipment used by the successful bidder to perform the contract. Furthermore, six (6) requests to produce documents were filed with the Ville-Marie borough, the City’s Procurement Service (Service de l’approvisionnement de la Ville de Montréal) and certain contractors relevant to the investigation, including Excavation R. Lécuyer & Fils Inc. The purpose of these requests was to collect the data and information needed to analyze the contracting process.
As described in this report, the company to which the contract was awarded, i.e., Excavation R. Lécuyer & Fils Inc., is performing a contract using equipment that differs from the equipment described in its bid, and furthermore, said equipment does not meet certain important mandatory technical specifications, namely with respect to the required category of excavator, engine power and excavation depth.
Also troubling in this investigation is the finding that this company, seeking to obtain a contract of a rather substantial value, led the borough to believe that it owned one of the required pieces of equipment by falsifying a document, namely a hydraulic excavator data sheet. Finally, the investigation conducted by the OIG shows that the company received the approval of the Ville-Marie borough for this piece of equipment—even though it clearly did not meet the stipulated requirements—following a shoddy compliance study conducted by the assigned borough managers.
In accordance with section 57.1.10 of Montréal’s City Charter (CQRL c. C-11.4) and based on the facts exposed above, the Inspector General has no choice but to rescind the rental contract awarded to Excavation R. Lécuyer & Fils Inc.