Audit of Zero-Emission Buses Tendering Process for 40-Foot Electric Buses

Ottawa – Today, Auditor General Nathalie Gougeon tabled the Audit of Zero-Emission Buses (ZEB) Tendering Process for 40-Foot Electric Buses, the second audit report related to the ZEB implementation.

After the introduction of four pilot electric buses earlier this year, the City intended to move forward with a Request for Proposal (RFP) for 40-foot ZEBs.   The audit highlighted some key risks relative to the design of the draft RFP, including:

• limited ability to assess technical capabilities of proponents beyond the baseline technical requirements;
• lack of measurability for some of the requirements to facilitate an objective evaluation;
• minimal guidance on how proponents were to demonstrate compliance with requirements; and
• battery and propulsion system warranty requirements and thresholds were lower than expected when compared to other municipalities, and no costing analysis was performed to support these requirements.

The City planned to mitigate some of these risks by extending meetings to proponents where they could have bilateral discussions to provide feedback on their initial design or request clarification on the RFP.

There are 6 recommendations and management agreed with all of them.  Following a review of the results of the audit, the City of Ottawa and OC Transpo decided not to release the RFP. Instead, they are planning to enter into a partnership procurement arrangement with the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) for battery-electric buses, which will address many of the risks outlined in the report.

A full copy of the audit report is available on the Auditor General’s website at www.oagottawa.ca.

For more information:

613 580-9602

OAG@ottawa.ca