‘This report should have been here a year ago’ Missed deadline leads city to automatically renew three-year contract
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/12/2018 (1954 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A missed deadline has forced the City of Winnipeg to approve a three-year, $1.5-million contract, without going to tender, and left city councillors with more questions than answers.
In November 2015, Active Network was given a three-year contract for processing registrations and the collection of credit and debit card payments for Leisure Guide programming. There was a provision for automatic renewal for a further three-year term, unless the city provided written notice of termination 12 months before the expiry (November 2017).
According to a recent administrative report: “This notice was not provided, and the contract has now automatically renewed for an additional three-year term. Community services (department) did not seek single-source approval (from council) prior to the automatic renewal of the contract term.”
No explanation was given as to why notice hadn’t been provided, but the report noted the department did not have approval to renew the contract without putting it out to tender.
The report said the city expects to collect $14.6 million from Leisure Guide programming fees over the new three-year term (Nov. 2, 2018, to Nov. 1, 2021), which Active Network will be responsible for processing.
Couns. Kevin Klein and Shawn Nason said there appears to be an over-reliance by city hall on the practice of awarding contracts without going to tender.
“Single-source contracts tend to lead… to lazy accountability,” said Nason (Transcona). “I’d like to see a full report on single-source contracts.”
Coun. Scott Gillingham questioned why more information wasn’t provided in the report about how the contract was renewed without prior permission from city council.
“Was the notice not provided because there was an error? Did the department miss it and miss the deadline, or was it intentional?” asked Gillingham (St. James).
Coun. Sherri Rollins, chairwoman of the protection, community services and parks committee, said she asked the department the questions raised by Gillingham, adding the situation wasn’t acceptable.
“All the questions you posed, have been asked. It was indeed a case of (the deadline) being missed,” said Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry). “It’s not ideal in terms of a practice. It’s something we want to avoid.”
However, a video recording of the Nov. 23 meeting where the Active Network contract was publicly brought to councillors’ attention reveals few questions were put to the department by committee members — and none by Rollins.
Rollins did not respond to a subsequent request for an interview.
Only Coun. John Orlikow (River Heights-Fort Garry) raised any concerns at the Nov. 23 meeting, pointing out to department staff they should have sought council approval before allowing the contract to be renewed.
“This report should have been here a year ago,” Cindy Fernandes, director of the community services department, said in response.
Fernandes told the committee the department was pleased with the work of Active Network, and believed the department had not taken full advantage of all the services the company could provide.
“We’ve been very pleased with the system,” Fernandes said. “We’re only three years in. There are huge capabilities that we’re still learning.”
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
