Deputy mayor wants more transparency in towing contracts, police reviewing process

Calls for transparency with city towing contracts Jeff Keele reports on calls from Winnipeg’s deputy mayor for more transparency with the city’s towing contracts.

Zakria Shoaib was confident his company, Bison Towing, would win a contract to tow Winnipeg police vehicles, considering his bid was a mere $14.70 per tow, a lowball offer.

"We knew that we were the lowest bidder," said Shoaib. “All of a sudden we know that we didn't get the contract."

The contract goes beyond towing police cars. It also covers seized vehicles connected to crime ,where impound fees can add up. Shoaib says that’s the real value for a winning bidder, and adds millions of dollars to the deal. But he says the bid opportunity was vague on many of those details.

“The contract is made in a way to favour some specific people in the industry,” said Shoaib.

Bison is just two years old, but Shoaib still figured out what’s included, so he put in the paltry bid, and still lost out on the contract.

"I'm definitely questioning the fairness of the process."

He took his concerns to Deputy Mayor Janice Lukes, who did some digging.

“It set off a lot of red flags and it was very concerning," said Lukes.

Lukes says since 2013, key information has been removed from bid opportunities. She wants more clarity and an external investigation.

"I'm not comfortable about what's going on, I’m not feeling comfortable about how contracts are written in and open and transparent manor that everyone can understand that we can have good competitive bidding on," said Lukes.

The city told CTV News that it found inconsistencies with various towing contracts. It says this police vehicle contract will not be renewed in 12 months, and will be put back out to tender.

It says the new bid opportunity will include the quantities and descriptions for the towing of non police vehicles under the contract.

But the city says the current contract was awarded to the lowest compliant bidder, and little has changed over the years in terms of bid details.

"There haven’t been significant changes to the key areas of the bid instructions and qualifications in 2024 compared to the two previous iterations (2019 & 2014)."

In response to the councillor’s concerns the Winnipeg police service says it acted immediately. In a statement, Superintendent Brian Miln says an internal review was launched.

"The WPS has since identified a gap in our contract administration processes and is conducting a thorough examination of our procedures and whether or not towing recoveries were properly submitted to the WPS. " said MIln

The contract stipulates towing companies are to remit $25 per tow.

Lukes is pleased the police are conducting a review, but still wants another set of eyes.

"I'd like to see outside, outside forces,” said Lukes.