Fall 2022 Update to Membership

Dear members,

Call for Applications or Nominations for New GCAO Director

The Board is currently seeking recommendations and applications for participation on the Association’s Board of Directors. Please reach out to any of the current Directors with enquiries or recommendations – see website for contact details – and to apply, send a cover letter and current CV to President Matthew Swann, mswann@gcaottawa.com.

Serving as a Director is a great way to serve our industry and share ideas with peers. The Board is looking for a multi-year commitment from applicants: rotating annual positions include President, Vice President, Tendering Practices, Entertainment, Communications, Secretary/Treasurer, and Website/IT.

Annual General Meeting

The GCAO’s 2022 AGM will be held at the Brookstreet Hotel beginning with a reception in the Celtic room at 5pm, with the AGM held from 5:30 – 8:00pm. See you there!

Award Nominations Deadline Reminder!

A reminder that the deadline for the 7th Bi-Annual GCAO Awards Program has been extended to November 16, 2022 for ICI projects in three categories: Category A – Up to $5M, Category B –$5M to $15M, Category C – $15M and over.

Submit nominations to Allessandro Guarna at aguarna@gcaottawa.com.‍

Tendering Practices

In September, the Board issued a memo regarding bidding for the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB), summarizing a number of complaints received from member firms including:

• Strikes not considered Force Majeure and responsibility of Contractor
• Owner can terminate the signed contract due to Force Majeure lasting more than 30 days
• Owner can terminate the signed contract with 30 days written notice without loss of profit / indirect damages
• Contractor declares they do not rely upon information furnished by the Owner or agents respecting the nature or confirmation of the ground at the site (but yet take full responsibility for being aware of existing conditions whether seen or unseen)
• Owner shall make payment within 28 calendar days after the date of a complete certificate of payment (contravention of prompt payment)
• Contractor must achieve total performance within 60 days of issuance of Substantial Performance
• Owner will not pay any further Progress Claims until Total Performance
• Owner reserves right to contract out of any / all unfinished Work after 60 days.

While members submitted their concerns during question period, the UCDSB’s response was ultimately that they would not be revising most of these clauses, and declined to meet with the Association.

The response from our members to the memo was widespread and positive – please continue to flag unfair tendering practices to the Board!‍

Events

Our annual golf tournament was held on September 7 at Loch March Golf & Country Club. We had a great turn out – thanks to all who participated.

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Get in Touch – and Send Us Your Contact Details!

As always, please reach out to any of our board members with any news, questions or concerns.

As we approach a new year, please send us email addresses for everyone you would like copied on GCAO correspondence. Send to Chris Markell at cmarkell@gcaottawa.com.