August 24, 2010

Consulting engineering association calls for ‘discretion’ on stimulus deadline enforcement

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada has urged Ottawa to “exercise discretion” in enforcing a requirement that construction of stimulus-funded projects be completed by the end of next March.

“Notwithstanding recent encouraging signals from the government, some uncertainty still remains as to what will happen to municipalities that fail to meet the March deadline,” the association said in a pre-budget submission.

“There is an added uncertainty that municipalities may shift risk for failure to meet project deadlines onto the design or construction teams, regardless of whether the failure to meet the deadline was of their doing or not.

“In response, ACEC is recommending that the federal government exercise discretion in enforcing the deadline where recipients of stimulus funds have made reasonable and good-faith efforts to meet the March 31, 2011 deadline.”

In a four-page brief, ACEC said that while it “appreciates” the government’s intent to ensure that funds are spent quickly in order to counterbalance the impact of the recession, the impending deadline poses a number of practical and logistical problems.

As a result of Canadian climate, weather and geography, construction schedules on certain types of projects are “uncertain” under the best of circumstances, the association said.

In addition, ACEC said, the complexities inherent in funding agreements between multiple levels of government have, on occasion, delayed or prevented projects in going forward “in a timely manner.”

“The complexities and variations of the regulatory and approval regimes across the country have also resulted in unforeseeable and unavoidable delays,” the association added.

In its brief to the House of Commons standing committee on finance, ACEC further recommended that the federal government:

• Develop a long-term infrastructure investment strategy that sets priorities, clarifies roles of all partners, identifies achievable objectives and measures success.

• Maintain existing pre-stimulus infrastructure programs until a long-term strategy is in place.

In an interview, president John Gamble said industry stakeholders that deal with infrastructure on a day-to-day basis recognize that meeting the March 31 deadline “is not practical or realistic” in all cases.

The Canadian Construction Association, for one, has not asked for an extension of the deadline but for flexibility on a case-by-case basis.

“We understand that the government has a deadline,” Gamble said. “We certainly understand that this is a limited-period program. We understand there is no new money to be found under the existing program.

“We are simply asking them to follow through with money they have already committed, in cases there are legitimate reasons for projects being delayed.”

The association represents close to 500 independent consulting engineering companies and 12 provincial and territorial member organizations. Consulting engineering in Canada is a $17.8-billion- a-year industry that employs 100,000 Canadians.

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