Item - 2024.GG18.22

The General Government Committee recommend that:  

1. City Council grant authority to the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management to negotiate and execute a non-competitive contract with Siemens Canada Limited to upgrade the pneumatic controls on the central heating and cooling plants and basement to the existing Apogee building automation systems at Metro Hall, located at 55 John Street, in the amount of $1,042,800 net of all applicable taxes and charges ($1,061,154 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries), for a period of ten months from date of award, on terms and conditions satisfactory to the Executive Director, Corporate Real Estate Management, and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor.

The purpose of this report is to request City Council authorization for Corporate Real Estate Management to negotiate and enter into a non-competitive contract with Siemens Canada Limited (“Siemens”) to upgrade the pneumatic (compressed air) controls on the central heating and cooling plants and basement to the existing Siemens Apogee building automation system (“BAS”) at Metro Hall located at 55 John Street, in the amount of $1,042,800 net of all applicable taxes and charges ($1,061,154 net of Harmonized Sales Tax recoveries) for a period of ten months from the date of award.

This is the second and final phase of the Building Automation System upgrades project at Metro Hall, and forms part of Corporate Real Estate Management’s State-of-Good-Repair program. This project also aligns with the City’s TransformTO Climate Change Action Plan and ModernTO Office Modernization goals and supports future carbon reduction and / or Net Zero projects. The first phase of the project, authorized by City Council in 2019 and completed in 2022, upgraded the tower compartment units of the Building Automation System at Metro Hall. After delays due to budgetary constraints and the COVID-19 pandemic, staff are ready to proceed to with the implementation of the project’s final phase.

Siemens is the sole authorized manufacturer, supplier, and service provider of the Apogee Building Automation System. Siemens also does not license intellectual property such as software diagnostics and diagnostic tools used in the maintenance, service and troubleshooting of the Apogee Building Automation System to other contractors. Because of existing system requirements, only Siemens is qualified to perform the proposed scope of work. The estimated cost to completely replace the existing Building Automation System with a non-proprietary system through a competitive procurement process is approximately $8 million and would take five years to complete, which is currently not justifiable.

City Council approval is required in accordance with Municipal Code Chapter 195, Purchasing, where the current request exceeds the Chief Procurement Officer's authority of the cumulative five year commitment limit for each vendor under Article 7, Section 195-7.3(D) of the Purchasing By-law or exceeds the threshold of $500,000 net of Harmonized Sales Tax allowed under staff authority as per the Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 71, Financial Control, Section 71-11(A).