Confidentiality Agreement
Information Exchange and Confidentiality
The results of the benchmarking process are used within the group for the sole purpose of individual utility and participant group performance improvement and education. As such, the results of the process are “Commercial Confidential” and are not shared outside of the confines of the participant group. Participants are required to keep the databases, result dashboards, and the Project Summary Report confidential to their organization.
In situations where an organization wishes to publicly review their performance in comparison with other utilities individually, or with the entire group, the organization is required to “blind” the results so that individual utilities cannot be identified by name.
Subsets of the participants may also compare their data in a public forum or report, provided all of the subset participants agree, and that no data from the remainder of the partnership is disclosed (e.g. a group of municipalities from a single province).
The precise extent to which confidentiality extends can be reviewed with group consensus in any of the participant workshops.
Statement of Qualifications and Limitations
The following Reports (the “Report”) have been prepared by AECOM Canada Ltd. (“AECOM”) for the benefit of the Client (“Client”) in accordance with the agreement between AECOM and Client, including the scope of work detailed therein (the “Agreement”).
The information, data, recommendations and conclusions contained in the Report (collectively, the “Information”):
- is subject to the scope, schedule, and other constraints and limitations in the Agreement and the qualifications contained in the Report (the “Limitations”);
- represents AECOM’s professional judgement in light of the Limitations and industry standards for the preparation of similar reports;
- may be based on information provided to AECOM which has not been independently verified;
- has not been updated since the date of issuance of the Report and its accuracy is limited to the time period and circumstances in which it was collected, processed, made or issued;
- must be read as a whole and sections thereof should not be read out of such context;
- was prepared for the specific purposes described in the Report and the Agreement; and
- in the case of subsurface, environmental or geotechnical conditions, may be based on limited testing and on the assumption that such conditions are uniform and not variable either geographically or over time.
AECOM shall be entitled to rely upon the accuracy and completeness of information that was provided to it and has no obligation to update such information. AECOM accepts no responsibility for any events or circumstances that may have occurred since the date on which the Report was prepared and, in the case of subsurface, environmental or geotechnical conditions, is not responsible for any variability in such conditions, geographically or over time.
AECOM agrees that the Report represents its professional judgement as described above and that the Information has been prepared for the specific purpose and use described in the Report and the Agreement, but AECOM makes no other representations, or any guarantees or warranties whatsoever, whether express or implied, with respect to the Report, the Information or any part thereof.
Without in any way limiting the generality of the foregoing, any estimates or opinions regarding probable construction costs or construction schedule provided by AECOM represent AECOM’s professional judgement in light of its experience and the knowledge and information available to it at the time of preparation. Since AECOM has no control over market or economic conditions, prices for construction labour, equipment or materials or bidding procedures, AECOM, its directors, officers and employees are not able to, nor do they, make any representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever, whether express or implied, with respect to such estimates or opinions, or their variance from actual construction costs or schedules, and accept no responsibility for any loss or damage arising therefrom or in any way related thereto. Persons relying on such estimates or opinions do so at their own risk.
Except (1) as agreed to in writing by AECOM and Client; (2) as required by-law; or (3) to the extent used by governmental reviewing agencies for the purpose of obtaining permits or approvals, the Report and the Information may be used and relied upon only by Client.
AECOM accepts no responsibility, and denies any liability whatsoever, to parties other than Client who may obtain access to the Report or the Information for any injury, loss or damage suffered by such parties arising from their use of, reliance upon, or decisions or actions based on the Report or any of the Information (“improper use of the Report”), except to the extent those parties have obtained the prior written consent of AECOM to use and rely upon the Report and the Information. Any injury, loss or damages arising from improper use of the Report shall be borne by the party making such use.
This Statement of Qualifications and Limitations is attached to and forms part of the Report and any use of the Report is subject to the terms hereof.