Item - 2025.AU9.6

City Council considered the following Items together:

AU9.6 headed “2025 Winter Maintenance Program Follow-Up: Status of Auditor General’s Previous Recommendations”; and

EX25.5 headed “2025 Winter Maintenance Program Review”.

The Audit Committee recommends that:  

1. City Council request the General Manager, Transportation Services to implement a structured process for managing route map updates to improve accountability and enable effective real-time monitoring throughout the season by:

a. providing updated Geographic Information System data and infrastructure changes to contractors in advance of the winter season;

b. requiring contractors to submit finalized route maps incorporating these updates before the start of the season; and

c. ensuring the finalized route maps are uploaded to the Global Positioning System dashboard before winter operations begin.

2. City Council request the General Manager, Transportation Services to incorporate longer street segments and additional risk-based samples into field audit reports to improve coverage, enhance quality assurance, and identify contractor deficiencies.

3. City Council request the General Manager, Transportation Services to:

a. review whether there is a systemic issue with contractor performance due to contractors using single-axle vehicles on local roads; and

b. ensure contractors achieve the required pavement outcomes within the time specified in the contract when single-axle vehicles are used on local roads and apply performance-based price adjustments when contractors do not meet performance requirements.

4. City Council request the General Manager, Transportation Services, to include feedback from Members of Council for their real-time, in-year, risk assessments used to monitor and evaluate contractor performance, and to also use this input in future years; and to provide annual briefs to Members of Council on the risk profiles within their wards.

5. City Council request the General Manager, Transportation Services, to implement Global Positioning System and data-based controls to detect instances when work has been completed in a timeframe that is implausibly fast, and to enter this into the risk based contract management processes.

The Audit Committee:

1. Requested the General Manager, Transportation Services, in consultation with the Chief Procurement Officer, to report directly to the July 23, 24 and 25, 2025 meeting of City Council with the following information:

a. documents showing the detailed review of scoring and evaluation of the Negotiated Request for Proposals for Winter Maintenance contracted services;

b. technical requirements that staff used in the Negotiated Request for Proposals; and

c. documents related to how vendors scored.

Contracted winter maintenance services are part of the City’s snow and ice management plan to ensure the safety and mobility of all road, sidewalk, cycle, and path users.

In March 2025, City Council requested the Auditor General to review whether previous Auditor General recommendations related to winter maintenance operations were implemented by City management ahead of the February 2025 winter storm (2025.EX21.1).

This report presents the status of the 30 recommendations made in three of the Auditor General’s previous reports related to the Winter Maintenance Program:

1. Audit of Winter Road Maintenance Program - Phase One: Leveraging Technology and Improving Design and Management of Contracts to Achieve Service Level Outcomes (October 2020)

2. Winter Road Maintenance Program - Phase 2 Analysis: Deploying Resources (June 2021)

3. Winter Maintenance Program Follow-Up - Status of Previous Auditor General’s Recommendations and Processes to Hold Contractors Accountable to New Contract Terms (June 2023)

In the 2023 follow-up, 11 recommendations were closed. For this follow-up cycle, management reported that the remaining 19 recommendations were fully implemented. We verified that eight are fully implemented, two are no longer applicable and closed, and nine are still in progress and are not fully implemented.

Our report also includes three new recommendations for the Transportation Services Division to continue improving how it oversees and manages the current winter maintenance contracts going forward.

Fully implementing the remaining nine recommendations from our previous reports, along with the three new recommendations in this report will help management more efficiently and effectively monitor contractor performance, report on service level achievement, and apply liquidated damages and performance-based price adjustments in accordance with the terms of the winter maintenance service contracts.