What is Infrastructure Ontario?
What is Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP)?
How does Infrastructure Ontario get involved in infrastructure projects?
What are Infrastructure Ontario’s main responsibilities for delivering a project?
How do I find out who is bidding on Infrastructure Ontario projects?
How do I get involved in an Infrastructure Ontario project?
When does construction end?
When does construction begin?
How is a Winning Bidder selected?
What is a Request for Proposals?
How are short-listed bidders selected?
What is a Request for Qualifications?
Q. What is Infrastructure Ontario?
Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown corporation responsible for:
- delivering some of the province’s larger and more complex infrastructure renewal projects, on time and on budget
- managing one of the largest real estate portfolios in Canada
- providing real estate services, such as asset management and property and land management
- providing the public sector and not-for-profit organizations with long-term financing to renew public infrastructure
Q. What is Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP)?
AFP is an innovative way of financing and procuring large, complex public infrastructure projects. It makes the best use of private-sector resources and expertise to provide on-time, on-budget project delivery.
Under AFP, provincial ministries and / or agencies establish the scope and purpose of the project while the work is financed and carried out by the private sector. Only after a project is completed will the private sector company be repaid by the province. In some cases, the private sector will also be responsible for the maintenance of a physical building or operation and rehabilitation of a roadway.
AFP allows large, complex infrastructure projects to be delivered faster and more efficiently (at a lower, long-term net cost) than traditional procurement, protects taxpayers from cost overruns, and transfers risks to the partner who has the expertise, experience and ability to handle that risk best.
Q. How does Infrastructure Ontario get involved in infrastructure projects?
Infrastructure Ontario was created as a Crown agency to assist the provincial Ministry of Infrastructure in delivering its long-term infrastructure plan, on time and on budget. The Ministry of Infrastructure in consultation with other government ministries, assesses, prioritizes and determines the overall infrastructure renewal budget. The ministry also identifies which projects will be assigned to Infrastructure Ontario or to a provincial ministry for delivery.
Q. What are Infrastructure Ontario’s main responsibilities for delivering a project?
Infrastructure Ontario’s main responsibilities include:
- leading and implementing procurement for the entire project
- assisting the project owner to prepare bid documents, including design and output specifications;
- receiving and evaluating submissions, negotiating and awarding contracts, and project managing the construction of the project at the request of the project owner.
Q. How do I find out who is bidding on Infrastructure Ontario projects?
Once a project enters into the procurement phase of project delivery, a short-list or pre-qualified bidders announcement is made following the request for qualifications stage. The request for qualifications invites bidders to provide information and demonstrate proven abilities in a number of areas including their financial strength, past experience, capacity and more.
This short-list or pre-qualified announcement will provide detailed information about the teams that have committed to participating in the request for proposals stage of a project.
Q. How do I get involved in an Infrastructure Ontario project?
All request for qualifications are posted on www.merx.com.
This process determines which companies/consortia are selected for the request for proposals stage of a project.
Only companies/consortia selected for the RFP stage may submit proposals. However, sub-contractors play an important role on large projects. We encourage interested business owners to contact selected bidders directly to inquire about business opportunities.
Where possible, Infrastructure Ontario organizes networking sessions to provide opportunities for interested bidders and consortium members to meet local sub-contractors. The networking sessions are promoted in the Daily Commercial News and through local professional and tradespersons associations.
Q. When does construction end?
Substantial completion means the main portion of construction on the project is complete in accordance with the project agreement and the facility is available for public use.
Q. When does construction begin?
Following the signing of the project agreement and, where necessary, the completion of the project’s design, construction can begin.
Q. How is a Winning Bidder selected?
Following evaluations, the highest ranking bidder is identified as the “preferred proponent.” Infrastructure Ontario and the client proceed to negotiate a final contract with this proponent.
Q.What is a Request for Proposals?
A request for proposals is issued to short-listed project teams only. The RFP sets out the conditions and specifications required to undertake the project.
Q. How are short-listed bidders selected?
Infrastructure Ontario works with the client (e.g., a government ministry, government agency or municipality) to evaluate RFQ proposals and to determine the highest ranking project teams to invite to respond to a request for proposals (RFP).
Q. What is a Request for Qualifications?
A request for qualifications is issued for a project via www.merx.com to invite interested companies to submit qualifications for a project.