A nationwide initiative supported by
The Issue
Background
Accords like the New West Provincial Trade Agreement (NWPTA) and its predecessor the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) have succeeded in removing trade barriers that have long existed between provinces. This is an important goal for a prosperous and competitive Canada. However, the current procurement provisions of the NWPTA cause a unique problem for government clients and consulting engineers in the delivery of public infrastructure and other engineered assets. By requiring government clients to solicit and accept submissions from all firms within the trade agreement area, NWPTA makes procurement of professional engineering services more time consuming and expensive for both the government client and the engineering firms wishing to provide professional services.
Consulting engineering services are neither a commodity nor “contracting”. They act as agents and advocates for their clients. Different projects have different complexities and risks, requiring different skill and services.
Under normal circumstances, the client would assess the quality of the proposal, the capability of the proponent, and the price. Unlike most other government purchasing, the lowest price is not always the best deal. In fact it usually is not, given the impact that the engineer selection has on the life-cycle costs of the project.
The assessment process is time consuming and expensive. Because of this, traditionally clients have invited a short list of bidders whom they know from experience are qualified firms. This speeds up and reduces the cost of the assessment, and helps assure quality.
Wide open solicitation of proposals has meant many more firms must submit proposals in order to secure work.. This has driven up the time, cost, and red tape around assessment of proposals.
Pressure to get the project under way can lead in some cases to clients selecting the lowest short-term cost submissions, at the expense of quality and life-cycle cost considerations. This can compromise the quality of the service, drive up the cost of the total project, and create additional construction, maintenance, or repair issues and cost. It also discourages use of the best practice.
A lower overall success rate for proponents means the cost of the greater proposal writing and pursuit of work must be recovered in and passed on to the client and taxpayer.
1. The current procurement provisions of the New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA) cause a unique problem for government clients and consulting engineers in the delivery of public infrastructure and other engineered assets.
2. By requiring government clients to solicit and accept submissions from all firms within the trade agreement area, NWPTA makes procurement of professional engineering services more time consuming and expensive for both the government client and the engineering firms wishing to provide professional services. Most provinces in Canada do not impose the same burden on the procurement of professional services, nor does the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT). 3. The increased time and resource demands on procurement officials creates an emphasis on simplistic criteria such as cost at the expense of more important qualitative criteria such relevant experience, expertise and commitment to service. As a result, costs have gone up while quality, innovation and value have decreased.
4. Wide-open solicitation of proposals will also force engineering consultants to spend more resources on writing proposals that will never be accepted. Often, the cumulative cost of all the proposals received is more than the value of the project. The additional costs incurred by consultants will result in higher overheads and higher costs to the client, and ultimately the taxpayer. These extra costs do not increase innovation or quality.
5. There is already a long-established approach to the procurement of engineering and related professional services referred to as qualifications-based selection (QBS). It is internationally recognized by public works experts in both the public and private sectors. This recognized best practice for selecting engineering consultants is not compatible with the existing framework of the agreement.
6. A solution that respects the principles of the NWPTA would be to adopt the approach used for procurement of engineering services under the AIT: Professional service regulated under provincial statutes are recognized to be different than other services and should not be subject to the NWPTA’s prescriptive procurement requirements.
For more information on key messages, visit www.MakingTradeWork.ca
Key Messages
Contact your Politician today
Association of Consulting Engineering Companies | Canada 3.
Enclosed you will find a sample letter for your Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). We invite you to personalize this letter to reflect your own situation. Then print your advocacy letter on your letterhead and mail or fax it to your MLA. Don’t forget that if your business is in a different political riding than where you live, you should send a letter to the MLA for each area. Your participation is crucial to our advocacy efforts.
Please remember that personalized letters have the greatest impact! You should also feel free to involve your colleagues and concerned citizens in the effort to update and educate legislators on the current regulatory situation.
Speak up
ACEC also asks you to follow up with your local MLA by requesting a meeting on this issue. We need every ACEC member in Manitoba to register our collective concerns, because for a politician, a call from a constituent makes a real impact. If your MLA is difficult to meet with, insist that you at least talk to him/her by telephone so that you can express your views directly. Note that MLAs should be making themselves available to meet with their constituents, so make sure you mention that you are a constituent when you are calling to make the appointment.
Prior to meeting with your local MLA, please review the enclosed Meeting Guide to help you prepare. Once you have concluded the meeting, please fill out the enclosed De-briefing Questionnaire. Your feedback will help us to continue our advocacy planning efforts. If you need help finding your local MLA, please consult the website below. The more MLAs we meet, the stronger our lobby effort will be! To assist our members in preparing for meetings with their MLAs, ACEC will be organizing a webinar to support these efforts.
You can find your local politician by visiting www.elections.mb.ca/en/Who_is_my_MLA/
Meeting Guide
Association of Consulting Engineering Companies | Canada 4.
Having a meeting with your MLA provides an opportunity to educate your MLA about
yourself and your business.
• Most MLAs will generally afford you only 15-30 minutes for your meeting, so you should be brief and to the point. If there are two or more individuals at the meeting, you should decide on a principal spokesperson to handle the main points. Don’t forget though, that all individuals should feel free to comment at any time during the meeting. 
• Open your meeting(s) by thanking the MLA for having taken the time from his/her busy schedule to meet with you and discuss this important issue. 
• Introduce yourself by giving your name, title and the business you represent. Note that your firm is part of CEM and ACEC-Canada. Your concerns are shared in every province.
• Say a few words about the purpose and aim of your meeting: Note that you will be providing an update on your meeting to ACEC, CEM and its members. 
• Do not hesitate to share personal anecdotes with your MLA. They can be very receptive to pieces of information that have a personal touch and in which you may have been directly involved.
• Pay attention to the time you have been allotted. Your MLA will appreciate your understanding that he/she has many commitments that must be kept.
• At the end of the meeting, briefly summarize the key points discussed. Make sure to add that if he/she has any questions, to not hesitate to either personally contact you, or ACEC at
1-800-565-0569 or CEM at 1-204-774-5258.
• Complete the De-briefing Questionnaire after the meeting and return it to Shirley Tillett by fax to 204-779-0788 or by e-mail at cemca@shaw.ca
Sample Letter
Association of Consulting Engineering Companies | Canada 5.
(insert date) (insert name and address of individual) Dear (insert MLA name):
I am writing you on behalf of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Manitoba (ACEC Manitoba) and its national federation, the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada (ACEC Canada). We understand that the government is currently considering participating in the New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA). We fully support this agreement. However, our industry is concerned with a specific aspect of it that creates a unique problem for both our industry and the government clients that it serves. With your support, this concern can be easily resolved.
The current procurement provisions of the agreement – a very minor aspect of the accord as a whole – require government clients to accept submissions from all qualified firms within the trade agreement area for any professional services assignment exceeding $75,000. This imposes unnecessary and punitive administrative costs to a sector largely made up of small and medium-sized firms. Wide-open solicitation of proposals will force engineering consultants to spend more resources on writing proposals that will never be accepted. Often, the cumulative cost of all the proposals received is more than the value of the project. These costs are ultimately borne by the taxpayer and do not enhance service delivery.
Most provinces in Canada do not impose the same burden on professional service procurement, nor does the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT). These provisions result in procurement methods that result in more costs and less innovation for both the industry and its clients.
Our industry’s concern can be addressed with a minor administrative amendment to the existing NWPTA with regard to the treatment of procurement of professional services. ACEC and its member organizations recommend that the prescriptive procurement provisions of NWPTA not be applied to professional engineering services. Engineering would continue to be subject to all other aspects of the agreement – including labour mobility and recognition of credentials.
This adjustment will not require substantive renegotiation of the NWPTA. We are not aware of any organizations or stakeholders (including municipalities) that would oppose or be negatively impacted by our recommendation. This proposal is supported by the entire consulting engineering sector across Canada.
Please support the consulting engineering sector in Manitoba and across Canada and help us to build a business and regulatory environment that allows us to provide excellent service to our clients and to contribute to our economic, social and environmental quality of life.
Thank you for your consideration and attention to our concerns. Sincerely, (Signature) (Name and title)
Cc: Shirley Tillet, Executive Director, ACEC- Manitoba John Gamble, President, ACEC-Canada
Debriefing Questionnaire
Your name: ____________________________________________________________
Company you represent: ________________________________________________ Business address: ______________________________________________________
Your email: ________________________ Your phone number: _______________
Name of MLA you met with: ______________________________________________ MLA’s political party: _______________ Date of meeting: ____________________
1. Was the candidate familiar with the issues affecting the industry?
Yes Somewhat No
2. Was the candidate supportive of the issue? Yes Somewhat No
General comments and feedback from the meeting _____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Please fax this form back to Shirley Tillett by fax to 204-779-0788 or by e-mail at cemca@shaw.ca
76.
420–130 Albert Street Ottawa, ON K1P 5G4
Tel.: 613 236-0569 Fax: 613 236-6193
www.acec.ca
Consulting Engineers of Manitoba Inc. P.O. Box 1547, Station Main,
Winnipeg, MB R3C 2Z4