Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government has a policy; it’s the business incentive policy. If Members feel that policy needs to be reviewed and the percentages allowed in that need to be changed, we can do that. But at this point, there is no way to arbitrarily go beyond that once you have gone out for an RFP. Governments often go out for RFPs to ensure that we are getting good value for money. In this case, there is not anything else that we could have done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like all Members of government, I am a strong supporter of the business incentive policy, which is a policy that is set up to encourage northern businesses and to recognize the differential cost of doing business in the North. So this government does support northern business and we’ve set a policy in place to ensure that we do. In this case, the business incentive policy was applied and the results of the RFP are as they are. Yes, I would always prefer a northern business win a proposal, but our policy is set up to say that the government is prepared to...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the deputy minister, when the issue was raised with her, did in fact ask Shepell-fgi to ascertain that the names that they had in their proposal were properly listed. Shepell came back and, at that point, said, we have mistakenly included one name, and apologized for that and asked us to remove it from the proposal. At this point, we are advised that there was one name, but that is the only one that we are aware of. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue is not one of whether or not an individual had more merit to provide the services or not, because the individuals whose names were submitted as subcontractors were not assessed by the department as to their qualifications as long as they met the standards that were required. So whether one individual was removed from consideration in one of the RFPs, it didn’t affect the outcome in any material way. Even after removal of that person from one RFP, the BIP office confirmed that it would not have changed the outcome in the application. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the first question, the costs of the proposal was one of the four important aspects that was evaluated, one of the four areas. The proposal was put out with a fixed cost in it. The proposal was advertised as having a budget set at a certain amount, and proponents were asked to respond to tell us what could be provided within that budget.
The issue of how much of the expenditures will be remaining in the North, again, there will be some variety, I guess. We will have to watch and see how much stays in the North. We have a responsibility, now that the contract has...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were three respondents to the public call for request for proposals and all were evaluated on four criteria: the capability of the proponents, the methodology or approach proposed by the proponents, the level of service, and cost. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to supporting parents and caregivers in their efforts to nurture children’s development from birth. A better start in learning leads to greater success in life. With that in mind, I would like to share with you some recent changes to the Early Childhood Program.
Our Early Childhood Program provides contribution funding for both the start-up and operation of licensed day homes and childcare facilities. As of April 1, 2007, our government has increased the amount of those contributions...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member talked about the similarities between the jail contract and this one. I would like to point out that in the jail contract, the government-of-the-day removed BIP from consideration and didn’t protect northern businesses. In this case, the business incentive policy is applying to the evaluation of the contracts and, yes, the government agrees that northern businesses deserve that extra protection. But there is a limit to how much extra protection is allowed under the policy and the policy, I am advised by the BIP monitoring office and by Public Works, has...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member said the government has taken a position that the proponents were all advised that an inverse ratio would be used. That’s not the case. This was not a situation where the RFP was identified that an inverse ratio would be provided. According to the BIP monitoring office, that is not an unusual process to use when a fixed price or a set price is used in an RFP. So when you advertise that you are looking for a fixed price, it’s quite common to use the inverse ratio.
According to Public Works, this methodology is not prejudicial to northern...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am advised that there is a difference between a tender document and an RFP. The expectation of the tender is that the proponents who are bidding on the tender will have contracts in place with the subcontractors. An RFP is an identification of those who will be used. There isn’t the requirement to have those contracts in place. In this case, as long as the successful proponent meets the set level of northern contractors to make sure that they were appropriately awarded the contract, the advice I am given is that we don’t have grounds to redo the competition....