Deputy mayor wants more transparency in towing contracts, police reviewing process
Zakria Shoaib was confident his company, Bison Towing, would win a contract to tow Winnipeg police vehicles, considering his bid was a mere $14.70 per tow, a lowball offer.
"We knew that we were the lowest bidder," said Shoaib. “All of a sudden we know that we didn't get the contract."
The contract goes beyond towing police cars. It also covers seized vehicles connected to crime ,where impound fees can add up. Shoaib says that’s the real value for a winning bidder, and adds millions of dollars to the deal. But he says the bid opportunity was vague on many of those details.
“The contract is made in a way to favour some specific people in the industry,” said Shoaib.
Bison is just two years old, but Shoaib still figured out what’s included, so he put in the paltry bid, and still lost out on the contract.
"I'm definitely questioning the fairness of the process."
He took his concerns to Deputy Mayor Janice Lukes, who did some digging.
“It set off a lot of red flags and it was very concerning," said Lukes.
Lukes says since 2013, key information has been removed from bid opportunities. She wants more clarity and an external investigation.
"I'm not comfortable about what's going on, I’m not feeling comfortable about how contracts are written in and open and transparent manor that everyone can understand that we can have good competitive bidding on," said Lukes.
The city told CTV News that it found inconsistencies with various towing contracts. It says this police vehicle contract will not be renewed in 12 months, and will be put back out to tender.
It says the new bid opportunity will include the quantities and descriptions for the towing of non police vehicles under the contract.
But the city says the current contract was awarded to the lowest compliant bidder, and little has changed over the years in terms of bid details.
"There haven’t been significant changes to the key areas of the bid instructions and qualifications in 2024 compared to the two previous iterations (2019 & 2014)."
In response to the councillor’s concerns the Winnipeg police service says it acted immediately. In a statement, Superintendent Brian Miln says an internal review was launched.
"The WPS has since identified a gap in our contract administration processes and is conducting a thorough examination of our procedures and whether or not towing recoveries were properly submitted to the WPS. " said MIln
The contract stipulates towing companies are to remit $25 per tow.
Lukes is pleased the police are conducting a review, but still wants another set of eyes.
"I'd like to see outside, outside forces,” said Lukes.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Singh says the NDP 'will vote to bring this government down' in new letter
After months of being non-committal, in a new letter, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his caucus 'will vote to bring this government down, and give Canadians a chance to vote for a government who will work for them.'
LIVE 4 ministers to get new portfolios, 8 Liberal MPs to be promoted in Trudeau cabinet shuffle: sources
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is adding eight Liberal MPs to his front bench and will be reassigning four current ministers in Friday morning's cabinet shuffle, CTV News has learned.
Freezing rain, snow, extreme cold: Weather warnings issued from Edmonton to St. John's
Environment Canada has issued a series of winter weather alerts from Edmonton to St. John's as freezing rain, snow squalls and extreme cold blanket parts of the country.
A new book about Chrystia Freeland just came out. Here's what we learned
A new book about Chrystia Freeland has just come out, after the publishing company sped up its release date by a few months. CTV News sifted through the book and pulled out some notable anecdotes, as well as insights about Freeland's relationship with the prime minister.
'Lowlifes': B.C. family outraged over theft of outdoor Christmas decorations
Security footage from a home in Vancouver’s Kerrisdale neighbourhood clearly shows a man grabbing Christmas decorations from the front lawn, and then casually walking away with them.
A teenager kills a 7-year-old student and injures 4 others in a school knife attack in Croatia
A knife-wielding teenager walked into a school in Croatia’s capital Zagreb on Friday, killing a 7-year-old student and injuring three more children and a teacher, authorities said.
'Enough is enough': Shots fired at Toronto Jewish school for the third time since May
A Jewish elementary school in Toronto has been struck by gunfire for the third time in the last eight months.
The Royal Family unveils new Christmas cards with heartwarming family photos
The Royal Family is spreading holiday cheer with newly released Christmas cards.
'It wasn't me!': Macron under fire for Mayotte cyclone response
French President Emmanuel Macron faced widespread frustration and anger from residents of Mayotte during his visit to the Indian Ocean archipelago, which is still reeling from the damage of the strongest cyclone to hit the region in nearly a century.