RFP PW-01-2025 Janitorial Services-Multiple Town Owned/Leased Buildings

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Award

At its meeting of February 18, 2025 Council of the Corporation of the Town of Petawawa awarded RFP PW-01-2025 as follows:

Resolution #17 - Council Meeting, February 18, 2025

Moved by: Murray Rutz
Seconded by: Karen Donovan

The Council awards Request for Proposal PW-01-2025, Janitorial Services-Multiple Town Owned/Leased Buildings, to GC Janitorial (1809699 Ontario Inc.) in the amount of $266,730.00 plus HST for Year One (April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026) of the three-year janitorial services contract.

Carried

Staff Report

Report # PW-03-2025 - Chris Mantha, Director of Public Works

Agenda date: February 18, 2025

Recommendation:
That Council awards Request for Proposal PW-01-2025, Janitorial Services-Multiple Town Owned/Leased Buildings, to GC Janitorial (1809699 Ontario Inc.) in the amount of $266,730.00 plus HST for Year One (April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026) of the three-year janitorial services contract.

Background:
The Town has contracted out janitorial services for the building housing the Upper Ottawa Valley OPP Detachment since approximately 2005. The Town has contracted out janitorial services for the Municipal Office, Fire Stations 1 & 2, and the Public Works Administration Building since approximately 2011.

The Library, Civic Centre, and Norman Behnke Hall have historically been cleaned by internal Town staff. With the recent addition of the new Comfort Station/Visitor Information Centre and Silver Threads Community Centre, there were difficulties providing internal cleaning staff to the new locations. Further, the existing cleaning contract for the Municipal Office, Fire Stations 1 & 2, and the Public Works Administration Building was scheduled to end on September 30, 2024. Our existing contractor graciously extended the contract to December 31, 2024, and then additionally to March 31, 2025. The contract for the UOVOPP Detachment was performed on a month-to-month basis and not sustainable for the long-term. With the completion of the new addition to the Public Works Administration Building on the horizon, coupled with staff attrition and trends in the labour market, it was deemed desirable to contract out janitorial services for these facilities and investigate if there was an appetite in the private sector to take on a larger cleaning contract.

As a stop-gap measure in September 2024, staff hired an external janitorial service on a temporary basis to provide cleaning services at the Library, Civic Centre, Norman Behnke Hall, Comfort Station/Visitor Information Centre, and Silver Threads Community Centre. This stop-gap measure provided staff the opportunity to review all Town facilities to determine which buildings would require external janitorial services and which buildings or portions of buildings could still be cleaned by internal staff. This review also provided staff the opportunity to draft a well detailed proposal document to release to the private sector.

The Town’s seasonal properties such as the Kin Hut, Petawawa Point Beach canteen, Centennial Park washroom facilities etc. will continue to be cleaned by internal summer staff.

Staff initiated the Request for Proposal (RFP) prior to budget approval to ensure seamless transition and avoid service disruptions. The existing contract extensions expire on March 31, 2025, and staff has exhausted all available short-term extension options. Delaying the procurement process until after budget approval would leave the Town without a contract in place, creating operational risks and potential service gaps.

Staff is requesting pre-budget approval to award the RFP to finalize the procurement process and have the necessary agreements in place before the current contracts expire, as well as provide the Vendor with sufficient time to mobilize and familiarize themselves with all of our facilities. This will ensure they can begin providing services effectively as of April 1, 2025. Waiting until after budget approval would not provide enough time for this transition, increasing the risk of disruptions to cleaning services.

Discussion:
The proposal was prepared and advertised on the Town’s corporate website, Facebook, and Instagram accounts on January 14, 2025. Fourteen (14) firms requested RFP packages and three (3) firms submitted proposals on the closing date of February 4, 2025 at 10:00 a.m

Bidder - Acknowledged Addendum Issued on January 29, 2025:
365 Cleaning Inc. - No
Dexterra Group Inc. - Yes
GC Janitorial (1809699 Ontario Inc.) - Yes

Section 10.5 of the proposal package outlined the following with regard to Addenda: “Addenda which have financial implications and have not been acknowledged on the Section C – Signing Sheet will result in the proposal being automatically rejected.” Further, Section 10.8 noted the following: “It is the Proponent’s responsibility to ensure that they have received all addenda before submitting their proposal."

The submission from 365 Cleaning Inc. did not acknowledge the Addendum that was issued on January 29, 2025, thus their submission has been rejected and not evaluated.

The RFP outlined the following timeline:
Issue Date of RFP - January 14, 2025
Non-Mandatory Site Tour - January 22, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. local time
Deadline for Written Questions to Town from Proponent - January 27, 2025 at 12:00 noon local time
Deadline for Issuing Addenda (if applicable) - January 30, 2025 at 4:30 p.m. local time
Closing Date for Proposal Submissions - February 4, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. local time
Recommendation of Award to Council - February 18, 2025 (tentative)
Proponent Awarded in Writing - February 19, 2025 (tentative)
Proposed Contract Start Date - April 1, 2025 (tentative) for a 3-year terms, with the option to renew for two 1-year terms

The proposal was issued to receive submissions from Proponents with the necessary skills, expertise, and experience to provide janitorial services at multiple Town owned/leased buildings as follows:

• Town of Petawawa Municipal Office – 1111 Victoria Street;

• Fire Station #1 – 23 Schwanz Road;

• Fire Station #2 – 1111 Victoria Street;

• Public Works Administration Building – 19 Industrial Avenue;

• Upper Ottawa Valley OPP Detachment – 1913 Petawawa Boulevard;

• Petawawa Public Library – 16 Civic Centre Road;

• Petawawa Civic Centre – 16 Civic Centre Road;

• Norman Behnke Hall – 10 Norman Street;

• Silver Threads Community Centre – 1163 Victoria Street; and

• Comfort Station/Visitor Information Centre – 15 Norman Street.

The successful Proponent is required to supply all labour, cleaning products, plant, equipment and other incidentals to carry out the required Janitorial Services at the locations indicated above. The Town will provide consumable lavatory supplies, toilet tissue, paper towels, liquid hand soap, hand sanitizer, sanitary wax bags, garbage bags, and recycling bags

Following the close of the RFP, the submissions were reviewed by Chris Mantha, Director of Public Works; Ted Marcotte, Manager of Civic Properties; Christine Leon, Director of Finance; Dawn Recoskie, Public Works and Fire Services Coordinator; and Lana Gillard, Facilities Services Liaison. The chart below reflects the scoring of the RFP submissions.

Evaluation Category	Rating	Dexterra Group Inc.	GC Janitorial
1. Proposal Submission Letter	50	40	40
2. Vendor Profile	150	132	96
3. Project Understanding, Concept and Proposed Methodology	200	140	144
4. Project Work Plan	200	176	136
5. Proponent Experience and References	200	128	152
6. Detailed Costs	150	60	132
7. Optional Interview	50	0	0
Total	1000	676	700

Following the evaluation process, GC Janitorial (1809699 Ontario Inc.) was rated the highest. The optional interview was included as part of the evaluation in the event the evaluation resulted in a tie; the optional interview was not required. Staff conducted successful reference checks for the selected Proponent. The RFP allowed for discussions and contract negotiations with the selected Proponent regarding terms and conditions within the scope of the original RFP document and were limited to cost, clarification, definition, and administrative and legal requirements. Staff met with GC Janitorial to review the detailed costs submission and to provide clarification on any questions the selected Proponent may have had regarding the scope of work. Staff requested a revised financial proposal following this meeting.

Financial Implication:
The RFP requested a schedule of total fees proposed for Year One of a potential contract to include all fees, costs and disbursements (including travel costs), sub-consultant fees, and any other expense as required by the Proponent to perform the work. In accordance with Part A, Section 24 of the RFP, the Town may disclose the identity of all Proponents as well as total proposal price. The initial proposal from GC Janitorial included Year One costs in the amount of $287,870.00 plus HST. The initial proposal from Dexterra Group Inc. included Year One costs in the amount of $420,146.67 plus HST.

The revised financial proposal from GC Janitorial for Year One costs is $266,730.00 plus HST.

The draft 2025 budget contains sufficient funding allocated for janitorial services to fund the proposed contract expenses. For comparative purposes, in 2024 the Town spent approximately $250,000.00 between contracted services and internal staffing to provide similar levels of service as proposed in the RFP. The 2024 costs include the addition of the Silver Threads Community Centre and the Comfort Station/Visitor Information Centre buildings partway through the year to the Town’s civic properties management portfolio.

With the awarding of this RFP there are also other benefits to take into consideration, as follows:

• Staff would no longer need to manage multiple cleaning vendors or oversee in-house janitorial services (including hiring, scheduling, performance management, payroll etc., of in-house staff).

• A single vendor reduces the complexity of processing invoices from different suppliers. The Town currently contracts out janitorial services to three separate vendors.

• No need for staff to arrange WHMIS, health & safety, or other compliance-related training for janitorial personnel.

The term of the contract is for a three-year period, April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2028. An annual cost of living increase will be imposed for the second (April 1, 2026) and third (April 1, 2027) year of the contract in accordance with the Canadian Consumer Price Index portal posted for the month of October of the preceding year. This is the same annual cost of living increase that is applied to the Town’s salary grid, Planning and Development user fees, and Public Works user fees, and will aid in setting the annual budget for janitorial services as the amount of any increase will be known well in advance of budget deliberations. If agreeable to both the contractor and the Town, the contract may be renewed for two additional one-year terms, subject to the original terms and conditions upon receipt of notice 90 days prior to the expiration of the contract. Costs for the contract renewal will be negotiated between the Town and the Vendor at that time and will be presented to Council for approval.

If the Town requires the contractor to perform any work on a Saturday or Sunday that is not otherwise stipulated within the contract, the Town will pay the contractor an hourly rate of $35.00 plus HST. If the Town requires the contractor to perform after event cleaning that is beyond the capacity of internal staff, the Town will pay the contractor an hourly rate of $35.00 plus HST. If the Town requires the contractor to perform any work on a Statutory Holiday that is not otherwise stipulated within the contract, the Town will pay the contractor an hourly rate of $45.00 plus HST.

Staff expects the additional hourly work to be nominal and would typically involve a significant special event or possibly an emergency event (i.e. if the Civic Centre were to be used as a reception area during a declared emergency, or if one of our buildings experienced flooding or sewer back-up etc.).

Employment Opportunities