With a service population of over 120,000, the City of Kelowna is the single largest employer in the Okanagan Valley, providing a variety of services to keep the citizens of Kelowna safe, happy and healthy every day. Over the past five years the City’s annual capital budget has ranged from 50 to 100 million dollars and annual building permits issued amount to more than 500 million dollars – making the City a key economic contributor.
In 2015, the ACEC-BC City of Kelowna Liaison Committee was established. From the outset, this committee has facilitated dialogue between the consulting engineering community and the City Infrastructure and Procurement Departments, with the shared goal of improving engineering service delivery within the City.
The City’s participation in this committee promoted a collaborative relationship with the consulting engineering community and resulted in the following key successes:
- Implementation of a qualifications-based selection (QBS) process for consultancy services.
- Participation in annual events with broad representation by City staff, promoting communication with the consulting engineering community;
- Consistency in consultant selection process throughout City departments;
- Improved engineering consultancy procurement practices;
- Development of mutually agreeable terms of reference for Request for Qualifications and Request for Proposals;
- Regular dialogue regarding upcoming projects and opportunities with the City; and
- Improved consultancy performance evaluation and debriefing processes.
Following on these successes, the City’s Development Department initiated a Consulting Engineer Liaison committee specifically focused at improving communication with the land development engineering community. This committee successfully served to:
- Provide input to planned development by-law changes;
- Facilitate dialogue between by-law officers, the Development Planning Department, and consulting engineers; and
- Inform consulting engineers of the City’s development application process, drafting standards and by-law review process.
The active dialogue and positive working relationships developed between the City and the consulting engineering community allowed the City to respond dynamically to overcome challenges related to the Okanagan flooding events of 2016 and to secure and implement a grant funding opportunity for over 50 million dollars of water system infrastructure improvements.
The City’s efforts over the past five years have been exemplary, resulting in the City becoming the client of choice in the Okanagan Valley.
Previous Recipients of the Client of the Year Award
| 2018 | City of Coquitlam |
| 2017 | City of Surrey |
| 2016 | BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure |
