Greylisted for snow-removal ineptitude, a company still scores Montreal contracts

Pavages D'Amourgained infamy in 2017 when Montreal cancelled itsfive-year snow-removal contract withthe Sud-Ouestborough, but Radio-Canada has learned thatthe company is still landing city contracts.

It won seven other contracts with Montrealin the past 18 months.

Snow removal in the the Sud-Ouest borough consistently lagged behind other parts of Montreal, and the companyalso faced fineswhen a plow dragged trash along the streetin Pointe-Saint-Charles and a sidewalk plowmangled a bike in Griffintown.

The city cancelled Pavage D'Amour's $5-million contract, fined the company $150,000 and put iton theso-called "grey list" for two years.

Greylistedcompanies can still apply for contracts, but the city can ignore them, even if they submit the lowest bid.

At the time the contract was cancelled, a city official said it seemedthe company "bit off more than it could chew."

Pavages D'Amouralso had contracts for snow removal in three other areas of Montreal: records show the contract withAhuntsic-Cartiervillebegan in 2016 and ends this year; the contract forLachinebegan in 2016 and ends in 2020;and the contract forPierrefonds-Roxboro began in 2014 and ends this year.

Focus on roadwork

Since being greylisted, the Dorval-based firm has bid on contractsfor roadwork.

On that front,Pavages D'Amourhas a much less dismal record. On one contract in Outremont, the city gave the company a score of 90 per cent for the job.

Other contracts includea 2018 commissionworth $2.4 million for sewer, water and roadworkin the Mercierneighbourhood, and a$362,000 contract to build a bike path between Kirkland andSainte-Anne-de-Bellevuein the West Island.

Pavages D'Amourshould be off the grey list by the end of the summer, which means it could once again start bidding on snow-removal contracts.

Even though the city didn't break any rules byawarding Pavages D'Amour, the fact they won them shows that the policy on evaluating service providers can be easily skirted, said opposition leader Lionel Perez.

Perez created the grey list as a member of the Coderre administration. He tabled a motion last month to give the policy more teeth, but it wasn't adopted.

Sylvain Ouellet, who is responsible for infrastructure at the executive committee, says the text of the motion tabled last month by the official opposition was not legally applicable.

He said the Plante administration is reviewing the policybut won't necessarily make it tougher.

Instead, the administration mayimplement varying degrees of sanctions, so that contractors that operate in different sectors aren't unfairly penalized for doing a poor job at things that aren't part of their core business.