The City of Winnipeg’s senior administration leaders met with MHCA and the Winnipeg Construction Association May 13, where a path to greater collaboration was laid out, for the next steps on including social procurement requirements in industry work.
The meeting follows the City’s decision earlier this month to temporarily halt including pilot clauses with social procurement requirements in tenders and contract documents for heavy construction projects.
Earlier this year, pilot clauses on skills & training and on purchasing from social equity groups were included in some heavy construction tenders. The City has said those clauses will not be enforced, and no further tenders this year will include pilot clauses.
The City and MHCA will work closely to look at the appropriateness of social procurement clauses and strive to ensure the requirements are workable.
Prior to release of tenders with pilot clauses, the WCA and MHCA will be given opportunity to circulate to industry for feedback.
The MHCA and WCA continue to press for the City to apply social procurement requirements at the company/organizational level, through policies and procedures that promote equity in hiring and training, rather than with tender clauses that expect contractors to meet requirements on individual projects.
