City manager says it is not standard practice to announce request for proposal

Nicolay also says while some perceive a conflict of interest with the bid, there is no benefit to the community to exclude any qualified bidder and the city has done nothing wrong.

“It makes sense that employees that are looking at their service being outsourced or privatized should be given a fair opportunity to bid on that service and say well if I can’t provide this as a city employee any longer because you want to contract it out, please allow me the opportunity to tell you how I would provide it as a contractor,” Nicolay said.

He says the proposal is being evaluated to determine if there are advantages to the city and taxpayers before submitting the bid to council.

The city released this statement this morning:

Medicine Hat – Bidding has now closed on the request for proposal (RFP) process initiated by the City of Medicine Hat seeking a third-party operator for economic development and real estate services. The City has confirmed 18 plan takers for the contract, with one submission received.

The singular bid was submitted by Orka Management Group, owned and operated by the current Managing Director of Invest Medicine Hat.

Currently operating within the City structure under the City-owned brand Invest Medicine Hat (IMH), the service previously operated as a contract service from 2014-2019. When the contract expired in 2019, Council directed that the service be brought in-house to enable re-alignment and re-assessment of delivery options. This process occurred until 2021 when management recommended that an RFP be issued to invite interest in potentially re-contracting IMH with a third-party service provider, based on the rationale that the service can operate more nimbly outside of the City structure and achieve cost savings.

The RFP was issued on June 15, 2021 through the city’s bids and tenders system using standard RFP protocols.

“The City posts RFP and tender opportunities on our website regularly, and they are always viewable by the public,” said Robert Nicolay, City Manager. “It is not standard practice for us to announce a request for proposals, but in retrospect we acknowledge that in this particular case it would have been beneficial due to the high profile of the IMH function.”

The RFP allows for cancellation of the process if the evaluation determines the shift is not beneficial and was explicitly designed to consider any potential for conflict of interest, recognizing that a bid from the current operators was likely.

“While we’re sensitive to the notion that some perceive a conflict of interest with the bid, it does not benefit the community to exclude any qualified bidder that can compete and has experience to deliver the requirements,” added Nicolay. “Incumbents are often present in both government and industry procurements, and we’ve made a concerted effort to ensure that our evaluation process involves a third-party and carefully considers a conflict of interest. Ultimately the goal is to secure the best proponent and deliver value to the community.”

With only one bid received, the decision to approve the award must be made at an open meeting of City Council. The item is expected to go forward in August.

by Teagan Rasche

City manager says it is not standard practice to announce request for proposal

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