Infrastructure Ontario pipeline comprises 32 projects

Infrastructure Ontario’s CEO Ehren Cory said that the number of projects is almost the same as last year. He added that a total of 10 new projects have been added, while 11 are under construction.

The portfolio comprises 15 social and 17 civil deals, Cory said.  He noted that the ratio five years ago would have been closer to 80:20. 

Cory also noted that this year there is a renewed push on the next generation of social projects in the health, justice and environmental space. 

“There are a half dozen healthcare facilities that truly cover all points on Ontario’s compass,” said Cory. “They are varying in size, but they have a DBFM skew,” he added. 

Social projects include a major redeveloped hospital in Kingston which is to be integrated into an existing facility. A second healthcare project is in Trillium, one of Canada and Ontario’s largest and busiest hospitals, according to Cory. 

“Life cycling thinking is a starting point for our greenfield projects as we believe integrated thinking adds value for our taxpayers,” Cory said.

Cory added that the pipeline also includes justice correctional centers, a new consolidated courthouse project, and an Environmental Science Centre.  

Civil pipeline 
Cory said that the IO has to date made significant progress on the “must-do” RER package 1 projects. 

“This time last year we expected to be bringing about one project to market a month, and in fact we expect to have the twelfth RER project in market by end of fall.”

Cory noted that the crown corporation is trying to balance three market factors in regard to its civil pipeline. 

The first is the facilitation of rapidly-growing traffic, as the rail network is experiencing growth volumes of 5% year-on-year. The second is the maintenance of its quality bar regarding due diligence for the projects, and the third is the management of those projects. 

“We do not want to flood the market,” Cory said. 

Package 3
Cory told Inframation that Metrolinx and IO are targeting a 1H18 RFQ date for the major on-corridor, long-term low carbon and network-wide solution known as Package 3.

Cory noted that the model for Package 3 is to be determined. He added that the crown corporation would not specify a model without more clear direction from the government. 

“While IO’s pipeline indicates the model for Package 3 is to be determined, IO and Metrolinx are aligned that it is well suited for an integrated DBFOM model,” Cory said. “The two organizations are working together to flesh out transaction structure with the intention of being in market with an RFQ in the first half of 2018.” 

“We have both landed in the same place and agree that life cycling thinking is good”, Cory added. “We want the private sector to be aligned and ensure that the construction is designed for the long-term.” 

Cory noted that there is a high level of integration risk between the operator, the signaling, other vehicles, the trains, and the maintenance strategy chose. He added that the crown corporations are currently working toward a DBFOM that integrates all of those elements. 

“The next step is to make sure the transaction structure is bankable and biddable for a rich mix of bidders,” he said. 

A decision on the delivery model would require direction and confirmation from the government

LRT program
Cory said that IO and Metrolinx’s LRT program is “on full-speed.” 

The crown corporations’ live LRT projects include the Finch West (CAD 2bn), Hurontario (CAD 1bn) and Hamilton (CAD 700m). All three projects have three teams shortlisted, but Cory noted that the Finch West procurement is the furthest advanced.   

Notably, the procurement time frame for all three projects was influenced this year by a vehicle supplier dispute issue between Metrolinx and Bombardier.  

Cory declined to address IO’s role in projects such as the Toronto Relief Line and the Scarborough Subway, but he said that they remain major projects that require collaboration at all levels of government, city and federal.  

The below table lists the projects in IO’s pipeline. Projects are linked to a transaction ticket in Inframation Deals.

The IO pipeline is as follows:

Projects at advanced stages of procurement include: