Our Activities
Review of Conference Abstracts and Chairing of Papers
Every year, we will review and select abstracts for the Annual OWWA Conference. We will chair and co-chair the Construction session during the conference and will promote the session to industry colleagues.
Seminars
Every February (commencing in 2017), the Construction Committee will present a one day seminar on Construction.
Technical Discussions
During each meeting, the Construction Committee will spend 30 minutes on a round table discussion on Construction. For example, our first round table discussion will be “Bridging the gap between Owners, Contractors and Consultants”. These discussions will form the basis for our annual seminar.
Publication of White Papers
Click on the topic below:
Publication of Articles
The Construction Committee will prepare annually an article related to Construction for publication in the OWWA Pipeline.
Facility Tours
The Construction Committee will organize facility tours for its members, and may consider opening up these tours to the industry.
The “Construction Contract” Advisory
The OWWA Construction Committee consists of five Consultants, five Owners, five Contractors and one Operator. At each meeting, the Committee discusses common construction issues. The conclusions /recommendations are not necessarily agreed upon by all members, but reflect the opinions of the majority of the Committee members.
As done herein, the Committee intends to publish a summary of these discussions. These recommendations by the Committee members do not constitute a recommendation by the OWWA organization.
The “Construction Contract” Advisory
| TENDERING ISSUES | DISCUSSIONS | CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATION |
| Tender Price Breakdown Submission Requirements | The Contractor’s Issue: Contractors are receiving price changes until the last few minutes before Tender closing – it is difficult to provide accurate breakdown! The Owner’s Issue: “Loading” of the Front end Tender items could occur with a post tender closing Price Breakdown submission. | One single “Total Tender Price” to be submitted on the due date. Breakdown (per Division and per Specification Section) to be submitted 48 hours after closing date – Mandatory for 3 lowest Bidders. Include clauses in the Contract to prevent submission of imbalanced breakdowns. Complete the tender evaluation after the submission and comparison of the price breakdowns |
| Listing/naming/circling of Subcontractors and Suppliers in the Bid Submission | The Owner’s Issue: Historically, Suppliers have brought complaints in front of politicians or a governing body about unjust “shopping around” or other pressure tactics to lower their price after tender closing. The Contractor’s Issue: Often, it is the Suppliers who initiate price negotiations, after Tender closing. Some Suppliers change the Terms and Conditions of their scope, at the last moment – before Tender closing, when the General Contractor does not have the time to make a note of these changes. | Listing/naming/circling “major” Subcontractors and Suppliers in the Form of Tender is not preferred, unless preselected.Pre-qualification of major Subcontractors and Suppliers is preferred, provided more than one firm is shortlisted (per discipline or per equipment), to allow flexibility of choice for the Contractor. For Owners that require fair wage policies, unionized contractors or simply choose to do so, List of Subcontractors and Suppliers to be submitted with the 48 hour Bid Price Breakdown. For other Owners, List of Subcontractors and Suppliers to be submitted at time of pre-construction meeting or an agreed upon timeline. |
| Members | Companies |
|---|---|
| Carlos Baez | Associated Engineering |
| Pasha Barazandeh | KBS Pumps Inc. |
| Anil Ambat | City of Toronto |
| Garry Boychuk | City of Toronto |
| Sandra Burnell | REVAY |
| Jeff Dobbin - Chair | H2Flow |
| Derek Steinke | Kenaidan |
| Leslie Ferguson | Region of Durham |
| Sam Gagnon | North America Construction (1993) Ltd. |
| Lyndon Grovum | Maple Reinders |
| Dave Inrig | Bennett Group |
| Stuart Leitch | City of Hamilton |
| Sandy Moore | Lexsan |
| Kevin Moran | Rockwell Automation |
| Hang Nguyen | AECOM |
| Andrew Rodriguez | City of Brantford |
| Brian Sahely | SWEL |
| Alberino Scarpato | Peel Region |
| Mike Schmied | North America Construction (1993) Ltd. |
| Jack Li | OCWA |
| Jake Manning | Victaulic |
| Donny Di Zio - Vice Chair | Graham |
| Emily Stahl | City of Guelph |
| Jake Graham | GM Blueplan |
| Peter Bradley | |
| Yvonne Zhang | AECOM |
| Alex Lee Bun | City of Brantford |
| Trevor Marks | Halton Region |
| Mukund Padhye | York Region |
| Shawn Yu | Alberici |
| Scott Wilton | Toronto Water |
