Zakria Shoaib was confident his company, Bison Towing, would win a contract to tow Winnipeg police vehicles, given that his bid was only $14.70 per tow, a modest offer.

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

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

“The contract is done in a way that favors certain specific people in the industry,” Shoaib said.

Bison is only two years old, but Shoaib still figured out what was included, so he made a paltry offer and still lost the contract.

“I definitely question the fairness of the process.”

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

“It raised a lot of red flags and it was very concerning,” Lukes said.

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

“I’m not comfortable with what’s happening, I’m not comfortable with the way the contracts are written and in an open and transparent framework that everyone can understand and on which we can have good tenders,” Lukes said.

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

It says the new bidding opportunity will include quantities and descriptions for towing non-police vehicles as part of the contract.

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

“There have been no significant changes in key areas of submission instructions and qualifications in 2024 compared to the previous two iterations (2019 and 2014).”

In response to the councilor’s concerns, the Winnipeg Police Service says it took immediate action. In a statement, Superintendent Brian Miln says an internal review has been launched.

“The WPS has since identified a gap in our contract administration processes and is conducting a thorough review of our procedures to determine whether towing recoveries were properly submitted to the WPS.” MIln said

The contract stipulates that towing companies must pay $25 per tow.

Lukes is happy that police are conducting a review, but still wants another look.

“I would like to see outside forces,” Lukes said.