Right now contracts are administered by not just Public Works and Services, they’re administered by every department to some degree. Within Public Works and Services, the contracts awarded in ’12-13, by way of summary, to date, the Public Works and Services has only done 59 sole-source contracts, which is about 2.2 percent of all the contracts; 82.2 have gone out for request of proposal, and in 2013-13 none have been negotiated and we’ve got 199, or 14.3 percent, tendered. So very, very few within Public Works and Services are actually sole-source.

There are criteria for sole-source contracts...

Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to litigation, individuals looking to bring a lawsuit against somebody tend to throw large nets and try to capture as many people as they can. They’ll write as many names on the list as they can, hoping to catch somebody. We have bonds in place, we have contracts in place and our dealings are with the primaries.

I’ll go to the deputy for some specifics on that, but by way of example, on this particular contract we knew we were doing a teardown on a building and we knew we needed to know what the risks were in that building by way of contaminants such as asbestos and whatnot. The contractor we hired to do the assessment so that we would have the information that we needed to go out for proposal for tender on that project, missed a number of items which, unfortunately, resulted in a couple of the change orders. This isn’t something that happens to us on a regular basis. We usually get pretty solid...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Claims between contractors and their subs could range from a huge, huge variety of situations. A bond is a time-sensitive tool, and if a subcontractor with a legitimate claim fails to take action under the bond on the assumption that the GNWT will intervene for some reason, they may jeopardize their ability to pursue relief provided by the surety. We make sure that the large projects have bonds in place to protect the subs and we make sure that those are adhered to, but individuals have to make sure that they utilize them as well.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We’ll commit to getting a plain-language explanation of this one for the Member and committee as well.

Thanks. If the Member goes to page 7-18, which is asset management, he’ll see that six positions have been taken out of asset management, and if he then turns to page 7-14 he will see that six positions have been added into the directorate. These positions haven’t changed their location, they haven’t changed their job. We’ve changed the reporting relationship. There was a restructuring in the department. It isn’t an addition of positions to Yellowknife in any way, shape or form. The positions existed, the incumbents are still sitting in their seats, they’re still sitting on the same floor and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Those are Public Works and Services’ assets. So we put more assets into service that year than I think we had initially planned, but I think for some specific details I’ll go to the deputy minister on that.

Madam Chair, we are a public government so we can’t actually black list contractors. In many cases, in problems that exist, the GNWT is not always a party to contractual agreements between general contractors and their subs. A lot of the times, issues are coming to me about subs and the issues that a primary contractor may be having with some of their subs. These subs are contracted to the person we’re contracted with. Our relationship is with the contractor, not with the subs.

The GNWT procurement policies and contract regulations do not permit the government to actually black list...

Thank you, Madam Chair. With me on my left is Paul Guy, deputy minister of Public Works and Services; and on my right, the director of Technology Service Centre, Laurie Gault.

Madam Chair, we do general contract reports. It is not always a public document, but I’m happy to share the information on individual projects with committee, at the appropriate time, on a requested basis.