A Kelowna janitorial contractor will be responsible for cleaning municipal buildings for the next three years, replacing the Summerland contractor who had done the work in the past.
Evergreen Building Maintenance of Kelowna received the contract with a bid of $68,968 for the first year and $206,904 for the three-year term of the contract.
L.A. Beamish of Summerland, the contractor who had done the cleaning working the past, was the next lowest bid, with $110,505 for the first year and $331,515 for the three years of the contract.
L.A. Beamish has held the contract since 2005.
A total of eight bids were submitted, but one was incomplete and discarded.
Mayor Janice Perrino said under provincial regulation, council had to award the bid to the lowest contractor.
“You have an obligation to accept the lowest bid unless reference checks or criminal reference checks are bad,” she said.
Of the seven bids considered, all except Evergreen’s bids were higher than $300,000 for the three-year term of the contract. The highest two bids, from Cameron and Sons of Kelowna and from CUPE Local 1136 of Summerland, both came in above $580,000 for the three years of the contract.
The low bid will result in savings of more than $40,000 a year for the municipality.
A vote to accept Evergreen’s bid was carried with Coun. Peter Waterman opposed.
This is not the first time the bidding process has resulted in an out-of-town business receiving the contract for work in the community.
When the garbage contract was awarded to BFI Canada in March 2011, the bid came in almost 20 per cent lower than the nearest Summerland bid, resulting in a savings of close to $60,000 a year for the municipality.
Under the New West Partnership Trade Agreement, formerly the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement, regulations are in place for municipalities in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan when they accept contracts.
The regulations are for the purchase of goods or services greater than $75,000 or for construction contracts worth $200,000 a year or more.