New Ice Rink(s) Coming to Cache Bay

Local bids once again lead to substantial savings.

Yesterday council approved the construction of the Cache Bay Rink project. This long-anticipated project was passed over in 2023 because the city was only able to solicit a single bid for substantially more than what was budgeted. A Sudbury construction company had bid $315,000.

Single-bid contracts, very narrow application windows and out-of-town contractors have driven up the price of many municipal projects over the last year. In 2023, the city only opened applications for the Field covered rink for 14 days before awarding the contract to an out-of-town company for $1.26M (more than $400,000 over budget).

This project also raised a lot of concerns because staff seemingly ignored a much lower bid.*

*I have made multiple inquiries on this and have not yet received an explanation from council or staff.

In the fall, many West Nipissing residents were shocked that two small canopies at the Verner arena had cost the city nearly $100,000 and no local bids were entertained.

Cache Bay Rink

This year, council approved $205,000 for the Cache Bay project. After opening up tenders for four weeks (as opposed to only two for the much larger Field project) taxpayers will be happy to hear that the latest outdoor rink will come at a drastically reduced price. Council heard last night that the city was able to get five bids for this project.

The lowest being local contractor Deep Construction for $187,665.

The city had requested two options from each contractor. Option A is to build a single full-size rink and Option B is to build two smaller rinks (as is currently present in Cache Bay). Option B will come in at a slightly higher cost but still below the budgeted amount for 2024. Council decided to award the contract but to take a couple weeks to solicit resident feedback before decided on Option A or B.

The next lowest bid on this project was also another local small business owner who confirmed with the West Nip Voice that they were unsuccessful.

The identity of the highest bidder which came in at at $375,000 (more than double the price) remains a mystery though.

As opposed to standard procedural practice, staff decided to keep all other contractors who bid on this project anonymous. It is not clear why, however we can assume that if the highest bid came from an often used out-of-town company it may lead to many questions of potential lost savings in the last couple of years.

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