CAA update ... Working On Your Behalf - November 2018

September and October 2018 were busy for the CAA. November has been full of last minute details, quirks and technical difficulties with CAA’s new website, so this WOYB must go out before the website launch. Watch your emails for the official unveiling and new website, coming soon.

This year’s AGM (September 20^th in Calgary) was well attended, both in terms of CAA members and sponsors.

This year’s meeting included presentations from both the City of Calgary and Alberta Health Services. Information from both presentations are posted on the CAA website. Click here.

In addition to preparations for the CAA Annual General Meeting, the CAA worked with the University of Calgary to organize a lunch hour session with EVDS students. The presentation was well received, with several students asking questions both during the presentation and after it ended. A copy of the student session is posted on the CAA website. Click here.

The CAA Business Award was also announced at the AGM. Because there was a tie in our judges’ assessment this year, the CAA opted to present the award to two firms:

• RPK Architects for Lean @ Work
• DIALOG for Edmonton Design Week

This year, we have posted all the submissions on the CAA website. Click here.

 

The CAA’s Procurement and Contracts Committee continues to meet monthly to deal with current issues from RFPs and agreements based on member concerns.

The CAA joined the restart of AI’s re-vamped Industry Liaison Committee on October 26th, a forum including the Deputy Minister and some of AI’s new Assistant Deputy Ministers. Discussion topics included the vendor performance program, community benefit agreement, sub-committee on best practices for timely project completion , liquidated damages and the Etergi system. The next meeting is scheduled for late January 2019.

Our members regularly meet senior representatives from AI’s procurement team to discuss current procurement and agreement issues, including reviewing Alberta Infrastructure’s decision matrix for construction contractor procurement methodology, the development of AI’s protocol for debriefings and reference letters.

A separate group representing the CAA has been meeting with AI concerning its approach to the implementation of BIM. Ultimately, AI’s direction will likely set an important industry precedent with industry-wide implications concerning roles, expectations , scope and fees.

The CAA joined regular meetings with a City of Calgary task force with the CEA. The intent is to work through current industry issues; this meeting’s agenda focused on the importance of the use of the Consultant’s Division 1, front-end specification sections.

As a reminder, a focus of the CAA’s activities has been our work with the CEA to develop our Suggested Fee and Scope of Services Reference. We are really pleased that the Alberta Association of Architects now includes a direct link from its website to our CAA Reference.

Similarly, members may not remember that the CAA developed a template for clients to use to prepare an RFP for architectural services and posted it as a resource on our CAA website. We are proud to note the recent successful use of our RFP template and our Fee and Scope Reference by the Royal Mayfair Golf Club as it went through the process of selecting and engaging a design team for its new clubhouse project. A member of the Club’s Facilities Committee commented on how helpful it was to have these references to facilitate an effective qualifications-based selection process.

As always, if you come across procurement and contract issues, please reach out to the CAA so that we can follow up on behalf architects in Alberta.

 

October also saw considerable effort focused on the CAA’s Pitching Green initiative.

Thank you to everyone who completed the survey. Your responses helped us create a database about green architecture. The final report for Phase 1, was submitted on time.

While phase 1 is completed, the CAA has also developed a proposal for funding Phase of the Pitching Green initiative. That proposal has been submitted too, but the outcome won’t be revealed until the new year.

 

And last but not least, two important meetings recently took place:

• On October 29, Allan Partridge and I met with the CAA’s Executive Director Barbara Bruce about the AAA’s Advocacy Strategy. The discussion focused on how we can work together, recognizing that some aspects are solely AAA’s and that there are some aspects that the CAA can be involved.

 

• On October 30, Doug McConnell and Allan Partridge met with Jason Meliefste, Branch Manager, Infrastructure Services at the City of Edmonton to discuss procurement issues at the City of Edmonton on our behalf, including issues noted by our members in past CAA surveys. Doug and Allan report an important step towards developing an even better working relationship with the City and note that regular discussions will be set up similar to those we have with both AI and the City of Calgary.