Item - 2023.GG8.8

The General Government Committee recommend that:

1. City Council receive the report (November 20, 2023) from the Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services and the Chief Procurement Officer, Purchasing and Materials Management for information.

The purpose of this report is to advise Toronto City Council, pursuant to Chapter 195 of the Toronto Municipal Code (Purchasing By-Law, Section 195-7.4), of a non-competitive contract with EllisDon Civil Limited, to procure construction services to repair damaged elements of the temporary Dufferin Street bridges over the Metrolinx rail corridor, south of Springhurst Avenue, for a total value of $1,320,000 excluding Harmonized Sales Tax ($1,343,232 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries).

The issuance of this non-competitive contract was a matter of urgency to accelerate the work required to re-open Dufferin Street following an emergency closure on July 13, 2023, due to damage to the bridge structures.

This contract addresses the remediation of temporary bridges installed a decade ago. At that time, the existing permanent bridges needed replacement. These temporary bridges, designed to last only 10 years, were meant to give Metrolinx time to finalize plans for the rail corridor beneath them and to provide the City with the necessary specifications for the new permanent bridges. Despite considerable design efforts over the past ten years, Metrolinx has not yet finalized the required design specifications. Therefore, it is necessary to repair the temporary bridges, which remain in use as an interim measure until the design and construction of permanent bridge structures can proceed. The City will seek to recoup two-thirds of the repair costs from Metrolinx for their share of the emergency repair work.

This repair was deemed an emergency by the former Interim Chief Engineer and Executive Director, Engineering and Construction Services, under Chapter 195-7.1 (G) of the Municipal Code. Reporting back to City Council is required in accordance with Municipal Code Chapter 195, Purchasing Article 7, Section 195-7.4 (B) when a non-competitive contract exceeds $500,000.