Transcript - Approves Electric Ferry Contracts - General Government Committee

Approves Electric Ferry Contracts - General Government Committee - April 8, 2026

Good morning everybody. I'm going to call the meeting to order. Uh my name is Deputy Mayor Paul Aninsley. I am the chair of the general government committee. Uh the clerk has informed me that we do have quorum. So I'm calling meeting number 28 to order. Welcome everybody. Today's meeting is being held by video conference and in person at city hall in committee room number one. This meeting is also being livereamed on YouTube.com/orronto city council live. For the land acknowledgement, I'd like to say on behalf of my colleagues and all of our amazing staff that although we may be meeting in different locations today, the general government committee would like to acknowledge that the land we're meeting on is the traditional territories of many nations including the Missosagas of the Credit, the Anaab, the Chipoa, the Honi, and the Wenda peoples and [clears throat and snorts] is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Matei people. We also would like to acknowledge Toronto is covered by treaty number 13 with the Missosagas of the credit. Excuse me. Uh if you're registered to speak at today's meeting, do we have speakers? No speakers, so I can skip the rest of that paragraph. [snorts] Uh for members of the committee, the city clerk has provided all of our agenda materials on the toronto.ca/counsel and on the clerk's meeting portal. Clerk's [snorts] IT staff are available to members if you have any trouble with your devices. I also want to remind you to please submit turn page and approve your motions by email. Staff are available at GGC at toronto.ca to help. Are there any declarations of interest under the municipal conflict of interest act? Seeing none, can I have a motion to confirm the minutes of our last meeting from March 9th, 2026? Councelor Burnside. All in favor? That carries. So, we have uh 13 items on our agenda today. I'm going to run through them. If you could let me know if you have any holds. Uh the first one is GG28.1 summary of open competitive awards made by the chief procurement officer from February 14th to March 6, 2026. Um hold please for councelor Holidayiday. And for simplicity, it's a general question, but I think I'm going to ask uh for instance about one of the procurements as an example, the one to do with the bell cameras. Okay. So, I know there's probably a lot of staff here for the different items, so the others don't need to worry about me asking questions. Okay. Thank you. Uh our next item is GG28.2, Two, amendment to purchase order 6051950 with WSP Canada Incorporated for engineering services for the rehabilitation and upgrade of eight group 7 sewage pumping stations at various locations. Have a mover move by councelor Holiday. Mr. Donimal, thank you very much. I learned lots about pumping stations. Thank you. You carried Yes. Uh, GG, Mr. Chair, point of order. The last item, you actually didn't vote on it. You just basically accepted that councelor Holiday moved it. Didn't actually vote. I thought I saw all the hands go up. All in favor? That carries. GG 28.3 amendment to purchase order number 6052967 with Cruel Earth Architecture Incorporated for the Mount Dennis Early Learning and Childcare Center projects. All by Councelor Holiday. Uh GG 28.4 Four, purchase order amendments for professional services and non-competitive contract with Jordan Souk Studios Incorporated for the provision of public art at the new Atobbico Civic Center. Chair, I also do have a question. I promise to be brief held by councelor Holiday. [clears throat] GG28.5 [snorts] amendment to non-competitive blanket contract 430000000085 with city dispensers incorporated for the non-exclusive supply and delivery of prescription eyewear for Toronto employment and social serial [clears throat] services excuse me moved by councelor Thompson or did you want to hold it? No. Move it. All right. All in favor? Moved by councelor Thompson. That carries. GG 28.6 non-competitive extension with Monera Solutions Corporation for payment processing services by councelor Burnside. All in favor that carries GG 28.7 non-competitive agreements required to supply the existing and new electric fairies. Councelor Thompson chair I'd like to hold that and with your permission Mr. Chair, I'm wondering if we can just vary the agenda in order to deal with that item as the first item after you've gone through the run through because I have to leave uh by 11 and I don't know whether or not councelor Holiday will be able to get through all of his items before 11. So, I just want to make sure I'm here for that. And simply what I want on this item, Mr. Chair, is just a brief presentation from staff. Okay. Thank you. uh GG28.8 non-competitive contract with Microsoft Canada from M365 software licenses, cloud subscriptions and support services. Like to hold this item, chair held by councelor Chang. [clears throat] GG 28.9 non-competitive contract with Upland Software Incorporated for telecom expense management services moved by councelor Chang. All in favor that carries. GG 28.10 non-competitive contract with Wayjax Limited for repairs, maintenance, service calls, and authorized warranty work on Allison automatic transmissions for Toronto Fire Services. Moved by councelor Thompson. All in favor? That carries. GG 28.11 non-competitive procurement contract with Motorola Solutions Canada Incorporated for the provision of enhanced radio communications equipment at the St. Lawrence Market North building. Moved by councelor Holidayiday. All in favor? That carries. Number 12, GG28.12, non-competitive contract with Brameck Creative Business Products Limited for the provision and installation of specialized dispatch consoles and related maintenance services for paramedic services. Move by councelor Thompson. All in favor that carries. GG 28.13130 130 Merin Street designation of a portion of the property used by Seniors People's Resources in North Toronto as a municipal capital facility. Moved by Councelor [clears throat] Burnside. All in favor? That carries. Do I need to vary the order to number seven? Okay, so we're doing going to number seven. GG 28.7 non-competitive agreements required to support the existing and new electric fairies. And we have a presentation from staff. Good morning. You can start whenever you're ready. Good morning. Just wait for the presentation to show up on the screen. [cough and clears throat] Good morning, chair and members of committee. Today's presentation is to provide a quick overview of the four non-competitive procurement agreements required to support the city of Toronto's ferry operations. Collectively, these agreements support the existing fleet fairies, the two new electric fairies, and the associated shoreside charging infrastructure that is currently being installed. In November of 2025, the Toronto Island fairies transition to fleet services. During the transition, staff have been reviewing and assessing the operational needs of the fairies and addressing them accordingly. This report brings forward four contracts that are essential to ensure the ferry services remain safe, compliant, reliable and operational. These are mandatory specialized and vessel specific contracts intended to reduce the regulatory risk, operational downtime and safety concerns. Next slide. The first contract is for Lloyd's register, the classification society that supports a city's existing ferry fleet. Classification societies are internationally recognized organizations or authorized by transport Canada to conduct inspections and issue the certification required for fairies to legally operate. Lloyd's registry has supported the city of city's existing fairies for approximately 10 years including inspection, maintenance, oversight, crew training and submission of documentation to transport Canada. This non-competitive is required as an industry best practice. It is strongly supports maintaining continuity with the vessel's assigned classification society. This was further informed by the marine expert consultant that has been working with fleet services during the transition to ensure the continuity of the records and minimize regulatory risk and safety compliance. This agreement ensures ongoing regulatory compliance under the Canada shipping act 2011. Consistent safety oversight, predictable inspections, and minimal disruption to ferry services. The second contract is Bureau of Veritas and specifically for the new electric fairies. This classification society was selected during the procurement of the new electric fairies. Bureau Veritas specializes in new vessel certification and electric propulsion systems and provides a technical certification, staff training and compliance documentation required for commissioning and operations. The class classification society was selected by the vessel builder Damon as they have extensive experience doing classification work on new Canadian vessels maintaining the classification societies required to protect certification continuity and reduce operational risk as well as ensuring the new vessels are put into service on time. This contract supports the successful commissioning and long-term certification of electric vessels, ensures transport Canada compliance, and provides specialized certific expertise for emerging electric vessels technology. The third contract is with Ontario shipyards, which provides maintenance, repair, and dry docking services for the new electric ferry vessels. Ontario shipyards is the only ship builder in Ontario capable of accommodating the size, breadth, and weight of the new vessels. Ferry services will require dry dock one year after delivery under warranty to en ensure all systems operate as designed and thereafter on a regulatory basis every 5 years. This non-competitive is required as there's a capability constraint in the local marketplace whereby only one supplier has this the infrastructure to support the size, breadth and weight of the new vessels and Ontario shipyards is the only authorized warranty repair provider aligned with the vessel builder Damon. This ensures guaranteed access to dry dock facilities for statutory surveys and hall inspections, timely repairs and reduced downtime, protection of vessel warranties and long-term asset value. The last contract is with AKA energy systems. The who is the original designer integrator of the electrical charging infrastructure and the onboard vessel electrical systems within the vessels. This includes the shore electrical systems, the automatic shore side charging systems, the electrical so correction vessel electrical systems and ongoing maintenance, diagnostics, parts and and staff training. This non-competitive is required as the system is custom and proprietary systems that are designed by AKA. OEM OEM certified expertise is required to safely maintain high voltage marine electrical infrastructure and using third parties would risk extended downtime warranty loss and introduce introduce potential for safety incidents. The benefit of this contract ensures safe reliable ferry charging operations. Minimize downtime caused by potential shore sight and vessel electrical system issues. Protects warranties and system integrity. built in-house capability through training and technical support. In summary, these four agreements work together to support the regulatory compliance and operational reliability. Each comp non-competitive procurement is justified by regulatory necessity, OEM exclusivity or physical capability constraints with the vendors and deliver clear measurable benefits to to ferry operations and service continuity. We're happy to answer any questions. Thank you, gentlemen. Sorry, just before you start, if you could introduce yourselves. Sure. My name is Abby Thomson, the general manager of fleet services, and along with me is Michael Pola, the director of ferry services. Perfect. Thank you. Questions of staff. Thompson. Can you put the last screen back up, please? The last slide. Thank you, Mr. Chair. [clears throat and cough] Yeah, thank you. And and thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you staff for the presentation. Um, so I just wanted to make sure it's really super clear. All of our check systems, all of the requirements for full operational for these fairies are have been done. That is cons confirmed through the chair. We are working closely with the ship builder as well as we have expert u marine expertise that are working with us to ensure that we have the right support to sustain the fleet once it's delivered. Gotcha. So um the expertise and the requirements that we need to operate these fairies so that they're safe and that charging stations are in place, fairies are charged and there's not going to be any sort of issues that we don't have a charger for the ferry so it's operational. We're now contracting out to a provider that's going to ensure that all of those systems that are required, mechanics are required to fully operate the system is in place. Confirmed. Gotcha. And we are not relying on city staff to do that because we have these technical experts who are going to be contracted by us to ensure that systems are going to operate and going to run fully. And if they're not, we actually have a third party that we can actually go to and hold those third party liable for non-performance etc. as part of this contract through the chair. So we do have marine engineers that are going to be trained and upskilled as part of this process to transition from the existing fleet to supporting the new electric vessels. And the OEM has training built into these contracts to ensure that we are in parallel training and upskilling our workforce to support the maintenance of these vessels. Should issues arise that are beyond the scope and expertise of our staff, we will have the contracts to to uh work alongside with us. Gotcha. Because that wasn't really clear to me that we would actually have the trained staff in place that are city employees. Is that correct? That is confirmed. Right. and they'll be trained and then you have the expertise from the contractors should we need additional expertise in order to help us with respect to the safe operational um of of the ferry system and service the new ones through the ship confirmed. Fabulous. Okay. And then on the um Ontario ship uh which is is that the dry dock yes company. And so they are the only ones who can uh facilitate the the full operational service requirement for these fairies when they need to be serviced. That's confirmed on two conditions. One is they're the only one that have the infrastructure that can fit the size and weight of our vessels that are being delivered. And secondly, they're the OEM, which is original equipment manufacturer, Damon authorized warranty provider within the region. Got you. And then Bureau verit Veritas. Verites. So the fairy system has all these electronic aspects to it that operates and as part of builtin with the manufacturer. This company has expertise to ensure the full connectivity with respect to the equipment that we're using in terms of the charging facilities and so on that fully um intersects with respect to knowledge and awareness to ensure the full operational safety of the ferry system. If I can clarify, so Lloyd's registry and Bureau of Veritas are the regulatory classification society. their delegated authorities from Transport Canada in accordance with the Canada Shipping Act and they're the ones that will certify our vessels on an annual basis to ensure we meet the qualifications, the skill sets um and for the safe operations of the vessels. Bureau Veritas specifically has been working in with Damon in Romania to ensure that the ship is being built to the Canadian standards. As such, they have the knowledge that's intimate to how the vessels are being designed, built, and fabricated. And as such having continuity when the vessel is delivered ensures continuity of that service. So are they a Romanian company or the Canadian company or they have an operational office or some type of um um entity here in Canada as well as in Romania as well. They're an international company that's authorized by Transport Canada and have a Canadian office. Gotcha. Okay, Mr. Chair, those are all my questions. All right. Thank you, Councelor Thompson. Other questions on this item? Councelor Holiday. Thanks, Chair. Um, so Lloyd's uh looks after how many vessels currently look after the the four existing fleets as well as the legacy vessel. So five in total when when the procurement is complete of the new vessels. How many will it look after? I saw the price was around $300,000 plus per year. Yes. So the new contract is for two vessels. Okay. Yes. So the two vessels are about $150,000 a piece per year plus some escalations I guess over time. And the contract includes training as well. So we're expecting a significant amount of upskilling and training that we will undertake with our crews to operate and bring the new vessels into service. And the other the other company for the electric fairies it was about $200,000 a year. So it's a little less. Is there is there a reason there's a price difference? Is it more work on one side or is it just two different companies? It is primarily driven by the number of vessels. Um the difference between the four vessels on the existing Lloyd's registry and Bureas has two vessels um under the new vessels that are being delivered. So the new vessels are more expensive per vessel. Then it is expected initially as we're bringing new systems online, we will have to set up our our fleet management information system accordingly to um support the new fleet. Um, I'm interested in getting a good understanding of the total program cost. And the last time I could find something was like 2014, uh, when there was an update to council and it talked about the $92 million procurement of the two new vessels and $42 million in shoreside work. Um, it didn't have all of the ongoing costs, but I sensed if I just looked at the electrical maintenance that was something like $1.2 2 million a year. So, as a member of council, how do I get a good sense of all of the bits and pieces that go into the fairies program? Because I've got to make a decision here on a big purchase order. Is there one place to look through the chair? We are in the process of working through all the supports that are required for the new vessels. Um, and the first vessel will be delivered in December. Um, and we will be working through exactly what's required. So I don't have that number with me readily but something I can take away and connect with you to provide. Well me is one thing but the public is another. Uh does it end up into your annual budget plan because you've got now going to look after them. Do can I look in those documents or will I be able to look in those documents to get a good sense of the program? The fairies as a whole is structured as an independent um unit within our budget. Um we have fleet management, we have fuel and fairies and so the fairies bucket is an is a separate um we show revenues and expenses separately for for that program. Okay. A the AKA purchase um is specific to the electric fairies. Correct. Confirmed. So that is that is a maintenance cost, a specialized maintenance cost. And do I understand that to average out about $1.2 million a year? So within that contract, we have about $2 million of spare parts inventory that we have accounted for as part of bringing the vessels into service. Uh there's a onetime upfront cost for about $2 million and $25,000 uh to ensure we have the spare parts and inventory to manage that fleet and thereafter the the maintenance that are required. Okay. So that's parts. Yes. Um and is that parts to the charging infrastructure or or typical vessel parts? Yeah, it includes both the charging infrastructure as well as the vessel. What I'm getting at is, can you give me a sense out of that $1.2 million average per year contract what the premium is for the electrification of the vessels? Yes, I don't have it readily with me. Um, but we can look at the the fuel savings that we anticipate from not having to fuel the diesel and then account for the maintenance cost with electrical infrastructure and provide you that premium. Is it net more or net less? Sorry, I don't have that with me. Uh any proposal on how I could get that answer? We will take it away um and try to get that number to you. Okay. So, I'll I'll do a different form of a question. Um looking at the entire program, do we have a sense of what the incremental premium cost is of going from the hybrid fairies to the current electric fairies now that we have more of the annual operating costs and we have a better look at the the uh the capital costs especially the stuff that is incremental to electrification. Is there a place I can go to look for that answer or is that available or does that require more work? Sorry counselor, you're you're straying away from the topic at hand. It's audic at hand please. Thank you. Okay. So we given what we've got today. Can you answer that question about where I can look through the chair? Um that information is not readily available. It will have to be consolidated. It is a large. For example, we do dry docking on our existing fleet. Those are savings that we will incur with the new vessels that are being brought into service um to reduce maintenance as well as fuel savings. Um we don't readily have that information but we can gather information for you. Okay. Just go to council chair. Thank you councelor Holiday. Other questions of staff? [snorts] Seeing none speakers? Councelor Thompson you held the item. Yes. And and thank you very much Mr. Chair and through you to staff and thank you for the presentation. Uh, I did have a briefing um with [clears throat] staff yesterday and that was very helpful and thank you very much for that. But I, Mr. Chair, I I wanted us to have a um another public briefing here this morning in order to provide information to the broader um civil society as a result of um past um situation as part of the electrification of our ferry services and so on. And um things may that may have been missed uh to ensure and clarify that um the direction that we're actually going is one where we have brought in all of the professional organizations that are needed to help us to ensure that we not simply champion uh the ferry service, electrical ferry service that we're going to have and adding to our legacy um fleet uh but to ensure public confidence and public safety overall. all and to ensure that everything that is needed to be done is actually being done as well as the um the the necessary expertise that we need to ensure that uh these systems uh will be operating and um traversing our waters, taking people back and forth and so on. is being done in a safe way, in a comprehensive way, as well as to give the public confidence that um we're not missing anything and that if we were, we have the professional expertise to provide us with additional guidance and so on. Additionally, that we will be training staff to be able to operate these uh new um fairies and uh to ensure that we have the expertise in place. Um in conversation with staff, um it was very clear that as we look at these budgets that we um these contracts associated with these um different companies that we're about to enter into an agreement with that it is the the top side. So we may not fully um utilize all the resources that have been um uh that are that are being asked for today. And and it's important to have that sort of balance. That's what I garnered and gleaned from our conversation yesterday. So, um there is enough uh room in order to allow for staff to ensure all of the necessary um equipment that may need to um be repaired both in terms of the charging infrastructure and as well as the other parts that are needed for these fairies and so on. that the appropriate capital is actually in place to ensure that um uh this um the contract is actually uh in place and to provide the staff with the necessary resources over the period of the four years of the contracts are in place to ensure that the work gets done. simply that I wanted to ensure that the public is assured that you have taken all of the necessary measures and consideration to ensure that when we do get these two fairies in place that all the things that are needed to be in place or in place all of the professional expertise and the skill sets that are needed to ensure the safe full operational of these systems uh are going to be in place. I don't want to miss anything and I wanted to ensure that we um glean from the questions and the presentation here today that the public has the provide them with the confidence that everything is being done that needs to be done and as we have missed in the past that nothing is actually being missed here today and we've covered our basis to ensure that when these systems are in place that we're very confident of their operational um uh functionality and that everything has been done to ensure that the public will enjoy the experience of riding on these um new system and that not only are they environmentally beneficial to our community and so on. I'm hoping that there will be no radiation or any issues that we will get from these electric vehicles and so on, unlike um some of these electric cars that people don't realize that they're actually driving in a microwave quite frankly as opposed to a system that um is open and uh provide uh clean air and and uh a safe uh way of trans transporting a people. So that's the reason why I wanted to have the presentation, Mr. chair and I'm assured I'm happy that um and confident that staff has actually done everything that's needed to be done in order to ensure that we can operate the system when we do get them. I can move the item. Okay. Thank you, Councelor Thompson. Other speakers on this item? Yes, please Mr. Chair. Councelor Holiday. And uh thank you to the clerk uh for helping me put together a rather hasty motion. It's an easy one. It's just request uh for a supplemental report um to the meeting of city council with an overview of the capital and operating costs of the ferry fleet including specific costs or savings attributable to electrification. I pass that to Mr. Chair. It's just so you have a copy. Um and it's just a I'm not going to expect um a a deep long report. There's not a lot of time to counsel, but it's just the financial piece that I would have preferred to have had in this report, which gives members of council an overview of the program so that we can make this decision within its context. And I I think that was an important piece. It's been some time since we've had an update on the program, which is rather large, uh, over $und00 million. And so, if we could just have a bit more information with this item, I would appreciate it. So there's obviously the the capital costs that are ongoing with the construction uh and the acquisition of the vessels and then as we see here there are operating costs now being identified and if we could have a a better view of that and I I guess in time we'll see that merge into the budgeting process uh that the city uh uses each year. But if I could have a bit more information around the questions that I I asked today I think that would be helpful and facilitate better decision- making. That's all. Mr. Chair, thank you. Okay. Thank you, Councelor Holiday. Other speakers on this item. [clears throat] Seeing none, so we have the amendment before us from councelor Holiday. All in favor? That carries. Item is amended. All in favor? That carries. Thank you. And we're back to the beginning of the agenda. GG 28.1 summary of Sorry, competitive. Sorry, I'm having trouble with my timer. Summary of open competitive awards made by the chief procurement officer from February 14th to March 6, 2026 held by councelor Holiday. Councelor Holiday, questions of staff. Yeah, thank you. It's a it's a general question and not um so the the there's a table that gives us a list of all of the procurements that were made and there's an opportunity to click on some links to uh information posted online about the award record. But when I click those, it's still really hard for me to find details about what the procurement was. And so I wondered if somebody could offer me a general idea of how I can obtain that information. And I'll give an example. One that caught my eye that was interesting was a transportation services procurement uh to Bell Canada for the provision of rooftop cameras uh to the city's genetic video management system in the traffic operation center. Sounds intriguing, but it was really hard for me to figure out other than a sentence what that procurement was. So, could anyone help me because these reports will be ongoing and I'd like to know how I can learn more. Uh yes absolutely um through the chair. So the link is intended to bring you to our to bids portal which does have all the information that hopefully reflects what you used to be provided with um BAP previously. Once you're on the to bids portal uh you have the award record and within that award record there is a PDF that takes you to a full form that has the information regarding uh the awards the award uh who bid the values um again all the same information you would have from a back report. So, I'm not sure if I'm looking at the right record, but I see if I follow the link on that example I gave. It brings me to the Toronto bids portal and it says awarded contract record and there's just kind of an abstract there and then there's an attachment that says award summary form.pdf. Is that the detail that uh you were referring to? Correct. That is the detail. Okay. So, if I click on that, I got the form in front of me. uh it gives me the solicitation title and it gives me the description of work which is basically a sentence about the same length as the title. So if I wanted to understand a little bit more about the work involved uh I guess I could pick up the phone and call staff but if I was a member of the public it would be really hard for me to figure out what this contract is for. So is there a way to get a little bit more information about the description of work? Uh we can work on getting more thorough descriptions. Um, again, previously it was a basically the same sentence of very minute detail on what the award was for, but as we're evolving this process, we can definitely see about filling that out just a slightly more concise manner with more more detail. Okay. So, could I could I could would that be something that um the Toronto Public Service would agree to as an undertaking? I don't need to put a motion, but uh absolutely. just to expand on the description of work so that um me or the viewing public could have a better understanding about what this contract is and if they need to go further they can go further but but um okay absolutely very satisfactory thank you Mr. Sure. Thank you, Councelor Holidayiday. Other questions on this item? Speakers on this item? Councelor Holiday? Move the recommendations. All in favor of GG28.1. That carries. Our next item is GEG28.3 amendment to purchase order number 6052967 with Cruel Earth Architecture Incorporated for the Mount Dennis Early Learning and Childcare Center project in Ward 5 held by councelor Holiday. Councelor Holiday questions of staff. Uh thank you chair. So just on its face if I under if staff could confirm my understanding here. Uh there was a a physical contract to build a a um a child center and there were some outstanding deficiencies in the value of about 380 or $390,000. [clears throat] Uh some time has passed since then and this particular item is for consulting fees uh related to time going on with that specific project. Is that correct? to the chair. Uh my name is Lisa Bahosu. I'm the director of project management office working with Graham. That is correct. So it's twofold. We have deficiencies through uh lack of performance from the general contractor and I'm limited on what I can expand on that because we're currently on litigation. Yes. And we have additional fees for the architect who goes through the extension of time due to the lack of performance and COVID and other u circumstances on the project. the project extended by 17 months and those fees are to cover the extent of time and additional fees. Okay. So, uh this is important. Do I understand a portion of these fees um are related to the uh deficiencies in the contract? That is correct. Okay. And do I note that the uh extension of the consulting fees is almost the value of the deficiencies by Yes, that's correct. So I don't know the percentage, but um could staff provide assurances that in in addition to um recovering for deficiencies that the incremental costs for the consultant will also be recovered in some way to keep the city whole. That is part of the process. Correct. There's a mechanism for that. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's all my questions. Other questions of staff on this item? Seeing none, uh, councelor Holiday, would you like to move the recommendations? All in favor of the recommendations and GG28.3? And that carries. Our next item is GG 28.4, Four, purchase order amendments for professional services and non-competitive contract with the Jordan Suk Studios Incorporated for the provision of public art in the new Atobico Civic Center held by councelor Holiday. Councelor Holiday, questions of staff. Thank you, chair. Um again to Creme and and the project management team. Um this is a bundle of uh changes to the project uh at the new Atobbico Civic Center. Do I understand correctly that some of the items are funded through um savings found in the project scope? That is correct to the chair chair. That is correct. Okay. And but there's one um and that is just over half a million dollars for a public art piece that is uh within the project budget. Is that correct? And we're dealing with the purchase order. That is correct. And it's a it's a non-competitive procurement if I read this correctly because there was a process to select an artist and by definition you've got to go to the artist. Is that is that correct? Uh to the chair I will hand this over to the CPO as this is actually a policy not a necessarily a uh is a procurement policy not necessarily a non-competitive. Okay. Uh through the chair. Um so this there was a compet competitive process but because of the value of the competitive process and the fact that we did a limited tender this is where it falls under an NCP but in this particular um situation for artwork there are actually exclusions within trade agreements which links to our policy that says we we technically don't have to compete um because it is such a specific piece of procurement Uh right now within our bylaws we only have the non-competitive tag but as we evolve our NCP codes we would like to reassess what that is identified since we also do feel NCP is a bit of a misnomer in this con situation. I understand but it it was competitive in the sense that multiple suppliers did bid. It's just because of the the way the bylaw and our procedures are drafted right now. Okay. So my question is perhaps even more general than that. Somebody walks into the notobico civic center and they look up and they say, "Wow, look at this great piece of art and uh it's known that the cost is uh about half a million dollars just over that." How would one explain that? That was either a good or maybe in someone's opinion not a good value. So there's two parts to that. How did we how did we choose the budget of half a million dollars generally? And how do we know that that is the right match to what is being provided here? What what's what's staff's process on that to land at this number? Uh to the chair, we've allocated a percentage of the construction budget to the public art and that percentage is 1%. Okay. So 1% would be around $500,000 on this particular project. Okay. So that's that's the macro budget amount. And then how do you how does staff evaluate that what is being delivered matches that amount that that's a reasonable that's a reasonable return for that value. This is through the competition. I am not so sure. Yeah. I'm going to hand over to my colleague Ben. Uh so through the chair uh to to select the artwork for the the site uh the city convened a community jury that included uh five representatives who were responsible for evaluating the design proposals. All the design proposals were brought forward for community consultation. So the uh local residents had a chance to feed in and provide input on what they felt was the best design. And the jury was ultimately responsible for selecting the one that best fit the the site both in terms of the architecture and design and connection to the community. Okay. And through that process it was understood that the value was in the vicinity of half a million dollars. That's correct. The artists are assigned a fixed budget and they respond based on that. So part of the jury response was not just do you like it, but does this make sense? Correct. Yes. Excellent. That's very helpful. I wish it was in the report, but I'm glad I could ask the question. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Councelor Holiday. Councelor Thompson, questions of staff. Thank you very much through you, Mr. Chair. Um I wonder if staff can help me to understand um how they involve the local counselor as part of this process in terms of consultation because I know that in the past where I've been involved with these and I have been kept apprised as to the status and the ongoing consultation. I'm just wondering what is our policy? What's the process to the chair? I'll I'll turn that question. It's Pat Mats. turn that question over to EDC because they manage the artwork uh solicitation. Sure. Thanks. So through the chair, as part of our standard process for public art procurement to conduct community consultation for all our proposals. Uh in the case of this uh particular commission, uh the design proposals are presented for community consultation in spring 2023 through an online survey that drew 300 responses. So my question has not been answered. I was asking about consulting with the local counselor, providing information to them. I understand about that process, but do they involve the local counselor? Do they inform the local counselor's office as to the process and the status of this situation? No, no. I I'm not specific. I'm just asking. Yeah, that's I'm just asking in general. I just wanted to make sure to you, Mr. Chair. I I'll again this we facilitated the budget. The actual process was led by EDC. So I'll let EDC respond to that uh request from councelor uh Thompson. Yes, my apologies for missing that component of the question. Yes, it is part of our standard process to be engaging with the local counselor. In this case, we've been engaging with deputy mayor Morley's office on the commission. Got you. Thank you very much, Mr. S. I just wanted to have that on this. Thank you. right on the border. Other questions of staff on this item? Seeing none, speakers, councelor Holiday, it councelor Holidayiday is moving the item. All in favor? That carries and we're on to we did that one. We're on a GG28.8 8 non-competitive contract with Microsoft Canada Incorporated for M365 software licenses, cloud subscriptions and support services held by councelor Chang. Councelor Chang, questions of staff. Thank you, chair. Um, this is a contract for 5 years with additional uh to extension for two additional one-year periods. And I'm just wondering, has the city considered how it can wean itself off of American-owned companies in light of our increasingly tenuous relationship with the US through the chair? Um, so this is really a two-parter for me. Um from the overall corporate side uh within procurement we are basically having conversations with uh our divisions when we are having these procurements and it's identified that we are heavily relying on American suppliers. Um we're also having conversations with our GTA partners uh to see where we can find um alignment where we can join together to again look for options for non-American suppliers. Uh the good news is uh we rely very very little uh on American suppliers but there is still a reliance within um the technology portfolio because it is software and it is a bit more complicated. Uh and this is where um my friends in TSD may have uh further an explanation on those. Thank you so much uh Jean Viev and through the chair. My name is Farad Kajoui. here as the interimm uh CTO with specific to your uh question counselor in addition to the CPO's comments um for all large contracts we do conduct deep market analysis and competitive to understand what competitive solutions are out there this practice has been in place for quite some time additionally we employ third party support to validate value for money to understand what other large enterprise organizations are doing within Canada I would also add that for Microsoft specifically, Microsoft does have data centers within Canada currently and uh the data residency is within um the country. [snorts] Has there been a security risk evaluation? because as much as we don't have that many uh I guess partnerships with American companies but the use of for example Microsoft is pervasive across the entire organization and so have we looked at it from a security point of view even if the data is in Canada it doesn't preclude you know when the rule of law is no longer something we can stand on we really don't know what exposure there is through the chair. Uh for all procurements and technologies that we bring in, it is common practice for us to conduct a security assessment thoroughly uh in partnership with the CISO and Toronto cyber security organization. So we look at France that is moving away from Zoom and Microsoft Teams. They are also uh have rolled out their own suite of collaborative tools for their civil servants. Um, and I'm just wondering, is there a goal for the city to do similar work to find ways to reduce our reliance on US big tech through the chair? Um, we currently consult um, as I mentioned earlier, with others uh, across the industry within Canada to always be on top of best practices that uh, we employ within Canada. As far as uh France is concerned, based on our research, yes, uh the federal government um in France is looking at certain areas of uh the Microsoft product suite to be developed locally. Uh that is not something that we're currently pursuing specifically at the city of Toronto directly. And do you think that there would be a request uh of the federal government? what role should or could they play in better protecting our data sovereignty? Thank you for the question. I think in our view um ideally the Canadian government could invest in sovereign solutions and it is our understanding that some investment is already taking place with organizations such as Cohair. Um that is an organization that we're currently in um conversations with as well. But for every consideration and for every opportunity, we ensure that the solutions need to fit the size and scale uh for what the city of Toronto requires. Great. Thank you. Those are all my questions. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Chang. Other questions on this item? Seeing none speakers on this item? Councelor Chang. Thank you, Chair. Uh this is something that I've had chats with staff at and at a later date I will be moving motions uh at council but you know I think this is something we have to be very intentional about considering in light of the fractured world that we currently find ourselves in. And if we look to the US and their great effort to ensure that there is a US ownership of Tik Tok, uh it is clear that you know their thinking about their data sovereignty um despite you know Tik Tok saying that they would house their data in the US that wasn't enough. They wanted to ensure US ownership and in the same way as our world continues to uh become more polarized and unstable we can't assume that you know when we partner with US big tech that it is entirely you know without security risks even if the data is housed in Canada. So, um I think that, you know, we all use Microsoft and probably people across Canada all use it, but we do have to give ourselves um a sober second thought about what tools should we be seeding. And I think a great example is Korea. So, if you go to Korea, you actually cannot use Google Maps. It is useless. they have their own version um cacao map and they use their own search engine. So they really have the innovation that they've invested in. I understand this is something probably at a federal level that we need more work to be done. But as the largest city in Canada, I think we also should be playing a role and planning forward in for ways that our city can operate um without the increased security risk that come with you know dependency on US big tech and we use Microsoft in every single division in our city and I you know this may be a neutral thing right now but we really don't know what the future holds. So, um I hope that our federal government is thinking about this and that we can seed and invest in local solutions, Canadianmade solutions um that can increase our data sovereignty. Thank you. And I'm willing to uh move the report. Thank you, Councelor Chang. Other speakers on this item? Seeing none, Councelor Chang's moving the recommendations in the report. All in favor? That carries. That was our last item of business and we don't have any bills. Motion to adjurnn. Councelor Burnside. All in favor? That carries. Thank you very much everybody and have a great day and a great week. Thank you.

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