SNC-Lavalin accuses N.B. of micro-managing bridge project

The New Brunswick government is being accused of micro-managing the expensive Princess Margaret Bridge repair project last year that ended up coming in two months behind schedule.

The bridge is one of the two main Fredericton bridges that cross the St. John River and connect the city's north and south sides.

The repeated delays have frustrated many of the estimated 20,000 drivers who use the bridge every day and it has hurt many of the businesses that rely on that traffic.

SNC-Lavalin, the bridge contractor, told the public during the summer that the wet weather early in the summer put the project behind schedule.

But according to documents released under the Right to Information Act, the company said the Department of Transportations actions put it in a bind that made it impossible to meet the project deadline.

The $77-million bridge refurbishment project was a "design-build" contract. In a memo obtained by CBC News, SNC-Lavalin said that is supposed to give the company the flexibility to make design changes while it's working on the bridge.

The Department of Transportation said in a letter on Sept. 21 that it would be a violation of the public trust if it turned a blind eye to the violations.

"The Department of Transportation has a tremendous obligation towards the public to provide safe and high-quality transportation infrastructure and to manage the public funds allocated to this purpose in a responsible fashion," according to Krista MacDonald, a project manager for the department.

"Turning a blind-eye to non-conforming work would constitute a grave breach of the public trust in this regard and the department is unwilling to contemplate the commission of such a breach."

But the company said by filing more than 200 complaints about design changes, the provincial government slowed things down to the point that the bridge was late.

"By driving the design process in a manner more befitting a traditional bid, the province has placed SNC-Lavalin in the untenable situation of assuming all the risks and burdens of design-build delivery while at the same [time] depriving it of the independence and margin for manoeuvre which generally accompany the assumption of those risks," an Oct. 6 memo from SNC-Lavalin to the provincial government said.

"The overzealous approach to reviewing design has resulted in interference with the contractor's ability to manage the design and construction process. This has a negative impact on the contractor's cost and schedule and this off-load to the contractor of unacceptable risk was not foreseeable and therefore could not have been (and was not) priced or planned for."

The provincial government and the company refused to comment on the documents.

SNC-Lavalin's contract had a provision that it would incur penalties if it brought in the project behind schedule. Those penalties are expected to cost the company $3 million.

But there is still no word on if, or when, SNC-Lavalin will pay the $3-million penalty.

Transportation Minister Claude Williams said in December that he expected the company to pay the penalty.

"We've respected our part of the contract and I would expect the same thing from SNC-Lavalin," he said.

The bridge, which opened in 1959, has been undergoing a major rehabilitation for the past two years.

The most recent work included replacement of the deck, refurbishment of the piers, steel repairs, completion of bearing replacement and painting.