Photo: The Town of Bashaw Feb. 18 regular meeting of council. Screenshot

It looks like the Town of Bashaw’s construction budget will go further this summer after an important tender came back lower than expected. The resolution to accept the tender was made at the Feb. 18 regular meeting of council.

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Theresa Fuller presented councillors with the results of a tender for their primary 2026 capital project, the 49th Street rehabilitation project, which includes water, sewer and road construction; pavement will follow in 2027. Fuller noted Tagish Engineering handled the tender on behalf of the town and submitted the tender results report.

“They are recommending awarding the tender to UG Excavating Ltd.,” stated the CAO’s memo to council. “The full project costs, including many items that have been purchased, will be $1,083,213.95.” Fuller pointed out some of the items already paid for include geotechnical and closed-circuit camera work.

Tagish’s report showed the very high level of interest in this project, including 16 actual tenders and the fact that 33 companies requested the tender package. UG Excavating had the low offer at $878,095.86, followed closely by CBO Earthworks at $945,059.54 and Carbon Earthworks at $981,293.25.

The highest tender was submitted by Volker Stevin Construction Ltd. at $2,143,316.84; it was noted one non-compliant bid from 1432740 AB Ltd. was removed from the process. “The bids have been reviewed by our office and all required bonding and consent of surety was received with each tender with the exception of one,” noted Tagish’s report dated Feb. 10.

During her verbal presentation, the CAO noted tenders came in lower than anticipated; she added that prices seem to have been affected by the recent municipal election. Fuller explained that sometimes large construction projects are fewer in number following a municipal election.

Mayor Cindy Orom observed that the Town of Bashaw traditionally completes one large construction project such as the 49th Street job every year, but hasn’t tackled anything like this in about five years.

Coun. Carman Meger, perusing the Tagish report, noted the following advice: “Tagish Engineering has not previously worked with UG Excavating on projects for the Town of Bashaw or for other municipalities,” stated Tagish. “Reference checks conducted indicate that UG Excavating is both capable and experienced in infrastructure replacement work; however, some references noted that additional supervision may be required at times.”

Meger also noticed Tagish, later in the report, recommended “additional supervision” of the contractor during the 49th Street project. Coun. Meger asked why that was necessary.

During discussion, the CAO suggested it was likely just as Tagish had stated: they had never worked with UG Excavating before.

Coun. Meger asked what happens if the contractor cannot get the job done by the agreed-upon date. The CAO responded that a contract between the Town of Bashaw and UG Excavating for this job will have details that address such concerns.

Coun. Meger still seemed concerned about the additional supervision. “We shouldn’t have to have somebody babysit them,” said Meger.

The CAO referred to Tagish’s research that UG Excavating is capable, but neither the Town of Bashaw nor Tagish has ever worked with them before.

Councillors approved by resolution awarding the 2026 49th Street infrastructure project to UG Excavating Ltd.