Report to Committee of the Whole
	TO:	Mayor and Members of Council
	FROM:	Andy Taylor, Commissioner of Corporate Services Barb Cribbett, Treasurer
	PREPARED BY:	Kevin Newson, Manager of Purchasing
	DATE OF MEETING:	October 11, 2005
	SUBJECT:	Amendment to Fee By-Law 2002-276, Document Fees for Tenders, RFPs and Quotations

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report entitled “Amendment to Fee By-Law 2002-276, Document Fees for Tenders, RFPs and Quotations” be received;

AND THAT Fee By-law 2002-276 be amended to include a non-refundable charge ranging from $25 to $250 per bid document for Tenders, RFPs and Quotations, depending on the size of the document.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to amend Fee By-law 2002-276 to include a non-refundable charge ranging from $25 to $250 per bid document for Tenders, RFPs and Quotations, depending on the size of the document.

BACKGROUND:

The purpose of charging bidders for bid documents is to recover costs incurred by the Town for printing documents, including blue prints and drawings. Currently, bidders are charged a non refundable fee of $25 for each set of bid documents for Quotations and RFPs and $50 for tenders regardless of the size of the documents.

DISCUSSION:

For some construction tenders, particularly major projects, each bid document includes multiple plans and drawings which are expensive to produce and package. In some cases, the cost of printing substantially exceeds the current maximum charge of $50 per package.

Staff conducted a survey of various municipalities regarding their fee structure for bid documents (Appendix A). Survey results indicated that the fee for bid documents range from $25 to $300. Markham’s neighbouring municipalities, the Town of Newmarket and the Town of Richmond Hill charge up to $250 and the City of Vaughan charges up to $300 per document.

Staff recommends that the Town charge a maximum fee of $250 per document for major tenders which include multiple plans and drawings.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Revenue from the sale of bid documents will continue to be credited to Account # 410 434 8880 Purchasing Tender Bids, 2005 Budget $30,000. With the implementation of the new fee schedule, any revenue over $30,000 will be credited to the Revenue Strategy Initiative.

ATTACHMENTS:

Appendix A – Survey Results

Barb Cribbett, Treasurer

Andy Taylor, Commissioner, Corporate Services

Q:\Finance and Administration\Finance\Purchasing\2005 File Management\Reports to Standing Committee\Amendment to Fee By-Law 2002-276 for Bid Document Fees.doc