The Build Surrey program is largely reliant on “working in cooperation with industry, government and academic partners” to support a number of capital projects slated to be built over the next 6 years.
The City of Surrey has absolutely no provisions to protect taxpayers from public tender capital projects that rise above the initially quoted cost.
Instead of making contractors cover the costs of going over budget, the City of Surrey instead builds generous contingency funds into these budgets. As an example, the new City Hall put aside $10 million for unforeseen expenses, representing more than 10 per cent of the total project cost.
Proposal
Introduce new guidelines that make successful bids for public tender projects responsible for any cost overruns.
