I guess eventually it will get built.
Questions raised on Sooke boat-launch deal
By Bill Cleverley, Times Colonist February 13, 2011 Comments (3)
•Story•Photos ( 3 )
More Images » Sooke boat launch and hotel.
Photograph by: Lyle Stafford, Times ColonistQuestions are being raised about a $203,000 "consideration" a marine contractor sought when he successfully bid for the $1.1 million Sooke public boat launch contract.
In his request for proposal (RFP), Brian Freethy, owner of Heavy Metal Marine Ltd., offered to defer about $203,000 he said he was owed from work he did four years earlier, on the Sooke boardwalk project, if he got the boat launch job.
But Sooke's chief administrative officer, Evan Parliament, said the deferral offer was never part of the agreement the municipality entered into with HMM, and, regardless, Sooke has never owed Heavy Metal Marine Ltd., the $203,000 cited.
In a Schedule 'C' attachment with his RFP for the boat launch, Freethy wrote: "Further in consideration of the work and expenditure retained by HMM for the benefit of the District of Sooke regarding the McGregor Park Boardwalk Project in the amount of $203,062 HMM would be willing to defer compensation (as mutually agreed) in the event of HMM being awarded the preferred proponent in this RFP."
In an interview with the Times Colonist, Freethy said he had worded the paragraph poorly. The $203,062 he referred to was not cash owed to him by the district, but was a reminder of work he had donated to the district on the boardwalk project, he said.
"They don't owe me cash from that. They owed me consideration for that," Freethy said.
Both Parliament and Mayor Janet Evans said inclusion of the schedule was inappropriate and it should never have been attached to the RFP. But both said it was ignored during the RFP evaluation and did not legally form part of the agreement.
"At the beginning, should we have just rejected Schedule C? Absolutely," Parliament said. "It should never have been submitted by the proponent and that was a mistake he made."
Parliament said HMM was a sub-contractor on the boardwalk project and did not work directly for the district.
"We have no liability on the books that we owe him a nickel," said Parliament.
The only other bidder on the boat launch project said he wonders why he bothered to bid. Brian Thacker, of Pacific Industrial Marine, whose $1.14-million bid was about $42,700 higher than Heavy Metal Marine's, says it appears the job was always HMM's anyway.
Thacker said his bid was rejected a day after being submitted without him being interviewed. Several phone calls were ignored, he said.
"We felt we were cheated in our efforts and not compensated for what we felt was a pre-determined result for the RFP," Thacker wrote in a letter to the District of Sooke. "It appears the result of this RFP was pre-arranged before it was ever advertised."
Freethy, who was working on the adjacent Prestige Hotel project, had equipment and material already at the job site during the bidding process.
Freethy listed expenditures of $188,445.44 he had already made toward the boat-launch project in the Schedule C.
"HMM, if not selected as the preferred proponent, would be resolute in seeking payment of this work," the schedule says.
Freethy said the $188,445 was for rock material he had already brought in while on the Prestige contract.
Evans said that had HMM not been awarded the boat-launch contract, Freethy would have had to haul the material away.
"There was no legal obligation from us, if he didn't get the contract, for that extra rock, at all," she said.
Evans said the district did nothing wrong.
But she said Freethy certainly had an advantage over any other bid. Were the district not required to tender the project, he probably would have been given it, she said. "If we were allowed to sole source through the Community Charter we would have probably given it to him because he was on site and he's done good work for us before," Evans said.
Sooke Coun. Herb Haldane said at the very least to the project should be retendered.
Gail Hall, a resident who made the Freedom of Information request for the RFP documents, said Sooke received more than $600,000 in grants for the boat launch and one of the conditions is that the contract process be "competitive, fair and transparent."
bcleverley@timescolonist.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/Questi...+launch+deal/4274064/story.html#ixzz1Ds8lb5pb
Questions raised on Sooke boat-launch deal
By Bill Cleverley, Times Colonist February 13, 2011 Comments (3)
•Story•Photos ( 3 )
More Images » Sooke boat launch and hotel.
Photograph by: Lyle Stafford, Times ColonistQuestions are being raised about a $203,000 "consideration" a marine contractor sought when he successfully bid for the $1.1 million Sooke public boat launch contract.
In his request for proposal (RFP), Brian Freethy, owner of Heavy Metal Marine Ltd., offered to defer about $203,000 he said he was owed from work he did four years earlier, on the Sooke boardwalk project, if he got the boat launch job.
But Sooke's chief administrative officer, Evan Parliament, said the deferral offer was never part of the agreement the municipality entered into with HMM, and, regardless, Sooke has never owed Heavy Metal Marine Ltd., the $203,000 cited.
In a Schedule 'C' attachment with his RFP for the boat launch, Freethy wrote: "Further in consideration of the work and expenditure retained by HMM for the benefit of the District of Sooke regarding the McGregor Park Boardwalk Project in the amount of $203,062 HMM would be willing to defer compensation (as mutually agreed) in the event of HMM being awarded the preferred proponent in this RFP."
In an interview with the Times Colonist, Freethy said he had worded the paragraph poorly. The $203,062 he referred to was not cash owed to him by the district, but was a reminder of work he had donated to the district on the boardwalk project, he said.
"They don't owe me cash from that. They owed me consideration for that," Freethy said.
Both Parliament and Mayor Janet Evans said inclusion of the schedule was inappropriate and it should never have been attached to the RFP. But both said it was ignored during the RFP evaluation and did not legally form part of the agreement.
"At the beginning, should we have just rejected Schedule C? Absolutely," Parliament said. "It should never have been submitted by the proponent and that was a mistake he made."
Parliament said HMM was a sub-contractor on the boardwalk project and did not work directly for the district.
"We have no liability on the books that we owe him a nickel," said Parliament.
The only other bidder on the boat launch project said he wonders why he bothered to bid. Brian Thacker, of Pacific Industrial Marine, whose $1.14-million bid was about $42,700 higher than Heavy Metal Marine's, says it appears the job was always HMM's anyway.
Thacker said his bid was rejected a day after being submitted without him being interviewed. Several phone calls were ignored, he said.
"We felt we were cheated in our efforts and not compensated for what we felt was a pre-determined result for the RFP," Thacker wrote in a letter to the District of Sooke. "It appears the result of this RFP was pre-arranged before it was ever advertised."
Freethy, who was working on the adjacent Prestige Hotel project, had equipment and material already at the job site during the bidding process.
Freethy listed expenditures of $188,445.44 he had already made toward the boat-launch project in the Schedule C.
"HMM, if not selected as the preferred proponent, would be resolute in seeking payment of this work," the schedule says.
Freethy said the $188,445 was for rock material he had already brought in while on the Prestige contract.
Evans said that had HMM not been awarded the boat-launch contract, Freethy would have had to haul the material away.
"There was no legal obligation from us, if he didn't get the contract, for that extra rock, at all," she said.
Evans said the district did nothing wrong.
But she said Freethy certainly had an advantage over any other bid. Were the district not required to tender the project, he probably would have been given it, she said. "If we were allowed to sole source through the Community Charter we would have probably given it to him because he was on site and he's done good work for us before," Evans said.
Sooke Coun. Herb Haldane said at the very least to the project should be retendered.
Gail Hall, a resident who made the Freedom of Information request for the RFP documents, said Sooke received more than $600,000 in grants for the boat launch and one of the conditions is that the contract process be "competitive, fair and transparent."
bcleverley@timescolonist.com
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/Questi...+launch+deal/4274064/story.html#ixzz1Ds8lb5pb
