Transport committee First of all, thank you for the opportunity to be here with you. I should warn you that asking me about infrastructure is like trying to get a glass of water out of a fire hydrant. The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies is the voice of consulting engineering compani
April 23rd, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee First of all, I'm not going to speak to Phoenix, because I just don't know enough about it. I'm just glad I'm not a civil servant.
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee First of all, we've heard this. There is inherent owner risk with any project. However, through the business sector, we're prepared to take on some of that risk, provided, one, that risk is very clear to the proponent and is clearly and well understood, and two, there is the abil
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee [Inaudible—Editor] exclusively to engineering and architectural services. It has survived Nixon, Ford, Clinton, Reagan, Bush, Obama, and so far Trump. It's been under scrutiny. In fact, since it was introduced in the 1970s, 46 states have adopted similar or comparable budgets, so
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee I certainly understand the attractiveness of Shared Services in terms of value for taxpayers, for consistency, and so forth. In professional services, though, it could unintentionally become another layer between the service provider and the end-user. That's a little bit of a ch
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee No, I didn't catch that. I don't think we're at odds. You want to make sure the past experience is relative and is germane. It is an indicator; there's no better indicator than past experience. I don't disagree within some sort of window or opportunity or program to facilitate n
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee In fairness to the government, the private sector clients are among the very best and the worst. Government is sort of predictable; they're a little bit of the devil you know. I think the RFPs often presume an outcome. The way they're structured, they're looking for professionals
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee That's difficult to say. Some private clients are absolutely dreadful; they actually do reverse auctions. Others sole-source, because they can. Others will say you did a great job on the last one, and as long as the price isn't out of their budget you can continue. It's difficult
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee You should emulate the ones that do qualifications-based selection.
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee There may be extraordinary circumstances. We don't even rule out sole-sourcing if there's a compelling public policy or security reason. The procurement process can be very expensive. I think if we had a criticism of government procurement, it would be that it's such an expensive
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee Exactly. You want to get to what is actually allowing the proponents to distinguish themselves from one another. Give them the chance to say what they would do differently, what they would do to add value to the project or policy.
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee It's counterintuitive. The United States has been doing this for 40 years. Included in the USB I gave to the clerk, there's an extensive study they've done. I provided the InfraGuide document itself. The City of Calgary has been doing it for many decades, and it's done it very su
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Government Operations committee Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to be here with you. The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies is a business association representing about 400 engineering companies across Canada. We are a federation of 12 provincial and territorial associations. Our m
February 6th, 2018Committee meeting
John Gamble
Finance committee Canada's north has unique challenges: the sheer geographical distances, the environmental challenges, and it's on both fronts, both the private business infrastructure, from the extractive industry, the natural resource industry, as well as the quality of life infrastructure. By
September 21st, 2017Committee meeting
John Gamble
Finance committee Thank you, Chairman, and committee members. The Association of Consulting Engineering Companies - Canada is the national voice of consulting engineering in Canada. We represent over 400 companies that collectively employ approximately 60,000 Canadians. Our members provide profes
September 21st, 2017Committee meeting
John Gamble