WINNIPEG - December 1, 2008 – Today, the City of Winnipeg’s Disraeli Bridges Project team announced that the first phase of the project’s procurement process – the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) phase – is complete.

The RFQ, which was issued this past August, received a number of submissions, all of which met the minimum requirements specified, and the three highest-scoring respondents have been short-listed to respond to the project’s Request for Proposals (RFP). They will receive the RFP, which is presently being finalized, before the end of 2008.

The City of Winnipeg’s Manager of Capital Projects, Henry Hunter, said, “The City is making excellent progress on this largest-ever bridge project.” He added, “The quality of the submissions we received was excellent and the project continues on schedule. The Project’s Fairness Advisor, Knowles Consultancy Services Inc., has observed the RFQ process from submission close until selection of the short-listed respondents and attested to the fact that the RFQ was an open, fair, and competitive process.”

The three short-listed respondents are consortia, project-oriented groups of leading firms which joined forces to make submissions to the RFQ for the Design, Build, Financing & Maintenance of the Disraeli Bridges Project. The three short-listed respondents are (in alphabetical order):

• KMC Winnipeg:  Kiewit Management Co. (Project, Design-Construction, and Financing Lead); Bituminex Paving Ltd. (Maintenance Lead).
• Plenary Roads Winnipeg:  Plenary Group (Canada) Ltd. (Project, Financing Lead); PCL Constructors Canada Inc. (Design-Construction Lead); Plenary Group (Canada) Ltd. (Maintenance Lead).
• SNC-Lavalin Inc.:  SNC-Lavalin Inc. (Project, Design Lead); SNC-Lavalin Constructors (Pacific) Inc. (Construction Lead); SNC-Lavalin ProFac Inc. (Maintenance Lead); SNC-Lavalin Inc., Investment Division (Financing Team Lead).

In accordance with City Council’s September decision, the Disraeli Bridges Project is proceeding in keeping with a DBFM (design-build-finance-maintain) model of procurement. This model provides extended lifecycle benefits, by providing for:  the transfer of upfront financing costs, overall project cost certainty, transfer of risk to the private sector, and transfer of maintenance costs for the term of the project.

As planning of the project continues, traffic management to accommodate the public’s needs will continue to be a priority; further details regarding planning to meet these needs can be found at the project’s website, http://www.winnipeg.ca/PublicWorks/MajorProjects/DisraeliBridges/

The Disraeli Bridges were originally constructed in 1959/60; construction of the current Disraeli Bridges Project is expected to begin in 2010.