BUSINESS RISK COMMITTEE The prime mandate of the Business Risk Committee is to provide assistance to CEO and its members by working to improve business practices in Ontario’s design and construction market. Focusing on procurement processes, client contracts and agreements, the committee is tasked with addressing often commercially onerous and uninsurable terms. Working with CEO staff, the committee completed its review of a number of Standard Services Agreements for large municipalities/ regions. Having created a priority list of the most problematic contract clauses to resolve, along with a longer list of secondary suggestions for contract language improvements, CEO is in discussions with these three large municipalities/regions. The committee will also continue to compile a list of other large clients who are utilizing contract terms that are of concern to member firms. These will be prioritized for contact once current discussions are concluded. The committee is continuing to support the CEO/ Municipal Engineers Association (MEA) Liaison Committee. The revised agreement has been completed and endorsed by both CEO and MEA. After discussion and consideration, the committee has tasked staff to copyright the document, creating joint ownership of the agreement for CEO and MEA and thereby preserving the original intent of its contents. In addition, the committee is looking forward to continue its work with Infrastructure Ontario to develop a standard agreement for engineering services for its real estate division, a first for the agency. Marking another important milestone this past year, CEO published and distributed the Conflict of Interest Guidelines for Consulting Engineering Services in Ontario to the member firms and provincial and municipal clients . Recognizing the need for a consistent definition and set of fundamental principles in a business environment of ever more complex projects, CEO’s new document clearly communicates what constitutes conflict of interest and how it can be best managed. 12 2015-2016 CEO ANNUAL REPORT The committee will continue to communicate and engage with CEO Chapters and liaison committees. Through CEO staff, the committee will continue to distribute bulletins dealing with broad risk management issues, distribute advisories for specific issues and clients, and communicate with individual clients about specific procurement and/or contract issues. This past year the committee has continued to address a substantial range of work on issues important to CEO’s members and the broader engineering profession. I would like to thank the volunteers for making the time and commitment to share their experience and expertise to work to develop solutions that maintain the strength and integrity of the consulting engineering market in Ontario. I would also like to thank CEO staff for their support. Rex Meadley, Committee Chair C.C. Tatham & Associates Ltd. Committee Members Dave Bannister R.J. Burnside and Associates Ltd. Steve Panciuk Marsh Canada Ltd. André Proulx Parsons Corporation Garry Warren SNC-Lavalin Inc. Andrew Wilson Dillon Consulting Ltd. Robert (Bob) Wilson HUB International Ltd.
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