'I don't think I would have accepted that': Mayor questions playground spending

Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee wants the city's parks and recreation committee to find a better way of deciding on tenders.

Lee shared his thoughts at the public council meeting Monday night. The discussion was around seven tenders being voted on for new playground equipment, which amounted to just over $90,000.

To decide the winning bid for the equipment, a list of criteria was used, each being awarded a score, that adds up to 100. Whichever bid got the highest score won the tender. The criteria are

• Safety standards: 15 points.
• Play value: 20 points.
• Appearance and novelty: 20 points.
• Quality and durability of materials: 15 points.
• Warranty, service and maintenance requirements: 15 points.
• Price: 15 points.

In some cases with these tenders the score between the winner and the lowest price was only a small margin, sometimes only one or two points. The lowest bid was only chosen three out of seven times. The difference in price added up to about $19,000.

In one case we're paying twice as much for the playground equipment.- Clifford Lee

"At some point in time I do think that we need to start to say, does that make sense?" said Lee.

"We've spent $20,000, roughly, additional taxpayers money by not accepting low bid.  And I understand and appreciate that some of this equipment is done by the suitability of the playground. But the reality is, in one case we're paying twice as much for the playground equipment in the park, exactly twice as much, and the difference in the evaluation, is one point."

Lee said he wants something in the criteria to change, and thinks the committee should have had a harder look. 

"If I was presented with the recommendation to spend twice as much money on the service, because of one point in the difference, I don't think I would have accepted that recommendation from staff." he said

You can't change the rules midway, says Tweel 

Coun. Mitchell Tweel, chair of the parks and recreation committee, said it's not as simple as just being flexible with the rules once the process has started. 

"You can't change it after you advertised it in the request for proposals," said Tweel.

"It's great to stand up here and say well there's one point differential or there's a five point differential ... That's all well and good, but you've got to take into consideration the entire scope of the criteria, and you can't change it after you've embarked upon a process."

Tweel said it's possible to reconsider the criteria for the next round of tenders, and that is regularly part of the process.

City staff said they are planning to have another look at the criteria to see if it can be improved.

Council approved all seven tenders.

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