EDITORIAL Public infrastructures: Let’s make quality a focus! The process of awarding and managing public contracts for International Organization for Standardization (ISO), 80% of the professional services poses many challenges for engineers. cost of operating, maintaining and replacing a building may In fact, the OIQ is regularly solicited regarding these issues. be determined in the first 20% of the design process. Within the framework of our mission, we must help find solu- tions that enable engineers to meet these challenges. In the interest of properly identifying the concerns first, the OIQ DESIGN COST IN RELATION TO LIFE CYCLE COSTS set up a working group this fall with the main actors involved. At the first meeting, several issues came to light, such as infra- End of life Design structure longevity, the fees charged by professionals, the 2-5 % 2-4 % labour shortage, the often too tight deadlines, plans that are Renovation occasionally incomplete, work coordination, and the contract 6-12 % Construction award process. 27-30 % Next step? We need to come up with potential solutions that are realistic. The OIQ does not have all the answers and cannot solve all the problems alone. Nevertheless, it can play a role in $ connection with protecting the public. Thus, the working group will continue its work in the coming months with the goal of identifying concrete solutions. To provide some food for thought on the public contract award process, the OIQ also recently commissioned a benchmark study on best practices in Canada and elsewhere in the world (United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Australia). This study revealed a potential trend toward the use of methods that focus on a mixture of quality and price criteria rather than just price criteria. Maintenance Operation Financing If the new government wants Québec to continue to have 20-24 % 23-28 % 4-6 % quality infrastructures, it should keep encouraging selections based on quality and price. A bill tabled by the previous gov- Source: ISO, Ministère de l'Économie (France), CGDD, Roland Berger ernment opened the door to selections based on price alone for projects awarded by government clients (Ministère des There is no doubt about it: Investing in design can really pay Transports, Société québécoise des infrastructures). Fortunately, off in the medium and long term! this bill was withdrawn so that the deliberations with partners can continue. Investing in design It is important to remember that clients that try to save money during a structure’s design phase –a step which accounts for up to 4% of the costs over the entire life cycle of an infrastructure Kathy Baig, Eng., FEC, MBA (see the chart)–may very well increase the overall cost of the President structure in question. In fact, the overall cost depends not only on the design, but Share your comments with us : plan@oiq.qc.ca. also on the type of structure chosen, its construction, and its operation including its maintenance. In the design phase, it is also possible to identify optimization variables for the construc- tion and operational phases. For that matter, according to the • NOVEMBRE-DÉCEMBRE 2018• 7