Two bids for early clearing and North Bank site preparation work on the Site C dam are already coming in behind what BC Hydro originally had scheduled.
Both parts of the project have either been pushed back or have not met BC Hydro’s procurement objectives.
Even before the government decided to go ahead with the project in December, BC Hydro started accepting bids for some parts. In June 2014, BC Hydro posted a Request for Proposals (RFP) on BC Bid for early works clearing on the south bank dam site.
“The objective of this procurement is to have a contractor in place to clear and prepare the site, should the project receive approvals to proceed to construction.”
The winning contractor would clear about 670 hectares of wooded land with about 77,000 cubic meters of merchantable wood — which would either be sold or go to waste.
Responses were due last July, with work possibly beginning last fall.
“BC Hydro decided to cancel the procurement process that was initiated in June 2014,” Dave Conway, BC Hydro Community Relations Manager, wrote in an e-mail. “The proposals received did not meet BC Hydro’s procurement objectives for the contract. We are moving forward with negotiations with the highest-ranked respondent.”
When asked why the early works clearing proposals did not met BC Hydro’s procurement objectives, Conway said the details of the submissions from proponents are “commercially confidential, as they were part of a competitive procurement process.”
Also, in November, BC Hydro put out a call for site preparation of the North Bank of the Peace River. This contractor would build about seven kilometres of access roads, excavate three million cubic metres of material, produce 100,000 cubic metres of aggregate material for use by other contractors, and clear about 115 hectares of land.
The original deadline for the request for proposals from contractors was Dec. 10. However, this has been pushed back three times, and the current deadline is set for March 20.
“We have extended the deadlines (for the North Bank preparation) in response to requests from RFP respondents, as well as to acknowledge the project’s adjusted construction start date of summer 2015,” said
Conway.
When asked why the possible North Bank contractors requested more time, Conway said “that would not be a question BC Hydro would be in a position to answer, as the answer may vary from respondent to respondent and we are in the midst of a competitive procurement process.”
Nevertheless, Conway remained optimistic about the timeline.
“To date, BC Hydro’s procurements are progressing well and there has been a strong response from the market,” he said.
