7/27/2019 Letter to Mayor Jim Watson

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2611 Queensview Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 8K2

Tel: 613-829-2800 ~ Fax: 613-829-8299 ~ www.genivar.com

October 10th

, 2013

Via Courier

Mayor Jim WatsonCity of Ottawa

City of OttawaMayors Office

110 Laurier Avenue West

Ottawa, ON K1P 1J1

RE: ISD11-5024 Hunt Club Community Pathway Connection

Dear Mayor Watson,

We are writing in response to the press conference held by the City of Ottawa on Friday October 4th

,

2013 regarding the Hunt Club Community Pathway Connection Bridge (project). GENIVAR is very

disappointed that the Citys representatives issued inaccurate and false representations regarding

GENIVAR and would like to take this opportunity to clarify some key important issues.

Pursuant to the contract with the City, GENIVARs role was limited to provide design related services

during construction. It was the Citys responsibility to supervise and oversee the construction

administration of the project. GENIVAR was available to provide technical support for construction on

an as needed basis and did so upon request.

In June 2013, after 24 months of construction the City unilaterally chose to undertake an independent

review of the project which took more than 8 weeks to complete. The review resulted in 5

recommendations that were presented to GENIVAR on August 26, 2013 with formal instructions to

modify the design accordingly. It is important to underscore, that the independent review did not find

any errors or omissions with the initial design.

The recommendations were predominately outside the scope of GENIVARs obligations pursuant to the

contract. However, GENIVAR was prepared to undertake them in an effort to cooperate with the Citys

request. A meeting was held on August 29, 2013 to discuss the recommendations.

The purpose of the August 29th

, 2013 meeting was to ensure that there was a common understanding of

what would be required to move forward with the redesign. The principal point discussed at the

meeting was the development of a Release and to ensure that all parties agreed to the overall principals

of how to move forward. The meeting achieved just that, and GENIVAR was encouraged by the Citys

willingness to work cooperatively. The City even requested GENIVAR to start preparing a budget for the

redesign.

The very next day, on August 30th

, 2013, the City surprisingly suspended GENIVARs services, despite the

encouraging meeting on August 29th

, 2013. Official termination of GENIVARs services was given on

7/27/2019 Letter to Mayor Jim Watson

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2611 Queensview Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 8K2

Tel: 613-829-2800 ~ Fax: 613-829-8299 ~ www.genivar.com

September 5, 2013 with no further avenue for reconsideration or discussion. The preponderate reason

given for the termination of GENIVAR was the time delays involved in the redesign.

It is well known and documented that the delays experienced during this project have not been caused

by GENIVARs services. In GENIVARs view, the Citys decision to terminate GENIVARs consulting

services and to hire another firm will only cause further delays and additional costs, which is most

unfortunate.

GENIVAR firmly believes that the City has misrepresented the facts and has damaged our reputation.

GENIVAR requests the that the City take all necessary steps to ensure whomever purports to speak on

behalf of the City does not make any further references to GENIVARs role on the project without our

express written consent.

Respectfully,

Marc Rivard, P.Eng.

President, Canada, Caribbean and France