The City of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada is launching a new procurement process for the Valley Line West LRT project. The retendering process is initiated after two of three bidders have withdrawn their proposals from the procurement process. SNC-Lavlin and consortium of Eurovia, Carmacks and Parsons opt-out of the procurement process because of restructuring effort and team member change.

The 14-kilometer extension from Downtown to Lewis Farms will be delivered using a design-build-finance (DBF) model. This type of contract requires the successful bidder to undertake the design and construction of the Valley Line West project and provide partial private financing. Once fully completed, the full 27-kilometer Valley Line will provide a reliable continuous light rail transit service connecting major destinations between southeast, downtown and west Edmonton.

The City chose the new procurement strategy after engaging with construction industry stakeholders to better understand changes in the market’s capacity to build the Valley Line West LRT. The City will have one procurement for infrastructure and separate for light rail vehicles and is currently exploring options related to that approach.

Through competitive procurement, the City ensures fair and rigorous competition among experienced participants in the design and construction industry. The City expects to launch the new procurement process with a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) early in the new year. The successful proponent will be selected by the end of 2020 and the project is expected to be completed by 2027.

The new procurement strategy comes after two of the three shortlisted teams withdrew from the previous procurement process in July. The City temporarily paused procurement to fully understand the changing market conditions and evaluate its options before relaunching with a new approach.

The Valley Line West procurement strategy report will be presented to the Executive Committee for information on November 18, 2019.