Alberta Transportation issued the following announcement on Aug. 7.
The Government of Alberta has issued a Request for Proposals for maintenance operations on Deerfoot Trail in Calgary to ensure it is safe year-round.
The existing contract will expire on July 31, 2019. Bids will be evaluated according to updated criteria with renewed focus on performance and outcomes.
Traditionally, contractor bids for highway maintenance contracts in Alberta have been evaluated with 95 per cent emphasis on cost and five per cent on technical components. A new evaluation model will focus more on performance and outcomes, with cost given 60 per cent emphasis and performance measures given 40 per cent.
Updated performance measures will evaluate the bidder’s ability to deliver on maintenance activities such as snowplowing, salting and sanding for snow and ice control, pothole patching, mowing and vegetation control in highway rights-of-way. They will also evaluate the bidder’s ability to work with municipalities.
“Safety on Alberta roads is a top priority for our government and it’s a priority on Deerfoot Trail, one of the province’s busiest roads. We need to make sure our roads are well-maintained and contracts are in the best interest of taxpayers. We hold highway maintenance contractors in Alberta to high standards of safety and accountability, and expect our renewed focus on performance to result in improved conditions on Deerfoot Trail and on highways across this province.”
Brian Mason, Minister of Transportation
Contracts for 10 other highway maintenance areas across Alberta will be tendered later this year. New highway maintenance contracts will also have a seven-year lifespan with a possible three-year extension if expectations for contractor performance have been met. All highway maintenance contracts are opened to competitive bidding as they expire.
Quick facts
Alberta is divided into 25 Contract Maintenance Areas (CMAs) that cover 31,400 kilometres of provincial highways.
A CMA is a boundary and defines a certain section of highway based on geography.
The highway maintenance network also includes 4,500 bridges, Deerfoot Trail in Calgary and the ring roads around Calgary and Edmonton.
The 25 CMAs are managed under eight highway maintenance contracts. The Deerfoot Trail is managed as a separate maintenance contract.
Original source can be found here.
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