Tartan Towing awarded new contract with city despite being sued by city over another contract

Posted on August 7, 2024 by Peggy

A Winnipeg councillor is questioning a new towing contract awarded by the city — and not only because the winning bidder is a company the city is suing for allegedly overcharging it in the past by more than $1 million.

Coun. Janice Lukes is also troubled by the wide range in bids for the contract, which covers services for the Winnipeg police.

Three bids were received — one for $113,600, another for $18,480 and the third for $14.70. The city awarded the contract last week to Tartan Towing, which made the middle bid.

“There’s just three incredibly different prices. I think that’s very odd, that three very experienced towing companies bid such dramatic differences,” said Lukes, who chairs city council’s public works committee.

It’s officially a one-year contract but essentially a five-year one, Lukes said. There are optional extensions for each of the following four years without the contract having to be tendered again.

“I’m just trying to find out why the bid results are so different. I have a lot of concerns,” she said.

Lukes said she’s looking into it, with help from others, and she’s made about 23 pages of notes over the last five days.

“I absolutely hope that the contract wasn’t written in a way that requires Sherlock Holmes sleuthing to get to the bottom of it, but something’s not right.”

The city filed a lawsuit last year against Tartan over allegations the company fraudulently charged $1.1 million for courtesy tows that never happened. Tartan has had a contract to move vehicles during residential snow-clearing parking bans since 2016.

City officials proposed a deal with Tartan to cut the payment down to $446,000 to avoid legal costs, but council voted to reject that deal.

Tartan then counter-sued in October, denying the allegations and claiming the city didn’t pay $730,000 for services rendered.

Neither Tartan’s nor the city’s allegations have been proven in court.

The fact the latest contract was again awarded to Tartan “seems to be a concern,” but nothing has happened in court related to the litigation, Lukes said — so while the optics aren’t good, it’s possible Tartan is innocent of wrongdoing.

“Really there’s nothing that’s barring them from bidding on the contract,” she said.

“If the judge says that nefarious activities occurred, then I’m going to be asking … that the contract come up for renewal in one year — public renewal.”

CBC News has reached out to Tartan Towing for comment but has not yet received a response.

CBC News also asked the city how and why the contract was awarded and received an email response simply confirming Tartan was awarded the contract.

“Insofar as an update on litigation between Tartan Towing and the city, court dates have not been set. The city will not be providing comment on matters before the courts,” David Driedger, the city’s manager of corporate communications, said in the email.