Thank you, Mr. Hagen. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this is more a human capital, but I only wanted to get the floor to welcome Mr. Hagen to the House. I believe this is his first time in the House as a deputy.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Welcome, Mr. Hagen. I see nothing further on page 62. Committee, turn back to page 59, we can consider the departmental total. Lands, total capital estimate, $110,000.
Agreed.
Committee has agreed. I guess I would like to dismiss the witnesses and thank them for coming for the brief appearance. Sergeant-at-Arms, can you please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.
The next department we have agreed to consider is the Department of Finance. Minister McLeod, would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes, I would, Mr. Chair.
Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister McLeod, would you please introduce your witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my right I have Mr. David Stewart, deputy minister of Finance. To my left, I have skip Jamie Koe who is our Comptroller General.
Thank you, Minister. We have the total capital estimates on page 25 for Finance, but we will defer that until we consider the detail. The first item for consideration is on page 28, Finance, office of the Comptroller General, infrastructure investments, $1,325,000. Do I have comments or questions on this? It appears that page 29 is the detail of this section. Comments? Questions? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am just wondering how much have we actually paid for this PeopleSoft system over the years? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to date, the GNWT has spent $19.5 million from 1998 to 2015 for the Human Resource Information System and $22.5 million from 2009 to 2016 for the System for Accountability and Management or SAM. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I didn't quite get all of those numbers, but it sounded like you spent over 30 or $40 million or something for this system.
Is this something that goes out to tender, or once we are, sort of, locked into a system we are stuck with it? How does this actually work? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Koe.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we have invested a lot of money into this management system for both human resources and the financial system. They are both oracle-based systems.
This upgrade project would get us fully supported by the vendor until the year 2024. In a sense, it is a significant upgrade, but it keeps us supported with that vendor until 2024, which is a significant time away. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Anything further? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that. I don't think I got an answer, though, to the question about whether this was originally put out to tender or is this something we buy off the shelf.
I guess we’ve sunk a lot of money into it now. After 2024, we are off the hook, and we can look at some other system if we needed to? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we find that this is a system that works for the government's needs very good. It does have to process a lot of information. One of the benefits, as Mr. Koe pointed out, was that we do get support from the vendor when we purchase their product. After 2024, I am not sure what the plan is going to be. If there is another upgrade to the system that we are quite comfortable with, then we will continue to use it. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
Just as an example, in the 2015-16 fiscal year, SAM, or the System for Accountability and Management, processed 60,636 vendor payments, totalling $1.9 billion; 13,933 employee expense accounts, totalling $18 million; 75,862 procurement card transactions. So it does process a lot of information. It is a system that has worked very well for us. Then we also get some support. When you are using these types of systems, there is usually a price tag involved. After 2024, we will have to make the determination then where we will go next. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Does that answer your question about procurement? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. It answers, I guess, the future procurement question, but I still don't have an explanation of how we got here. Was this originally put out to tender or was this just something we bought off the shelf or what? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. So how was this system originally procured, Minister?
It was procured through an RFP. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. O'Reilly? Nothing further from Mr. O'Reilly. I see no further comments. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have one question. We have an update that's costing us a certain amount of money. How many more updates are we going to be looking at until 2024? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my understanding, and I think Mr. Koe pointed it out before, was that this latest upgrade will get us to 2024 and then a determination will be made then what the next steps are. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson, nothing further? Seeing nothing further, we can move back to page 25, which is the total capital estimates containing the one item. Finance, total capital estimates, $1,325,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed
Minister, I'd like to thank you and your witnesses for appearing before us. Sergeant–at-Arms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber. Minister, you can keep your seat if you're next. No? Minister, you have to go back. Next, committee has agreed to consider the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources. Minister McLeod, would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes, I would, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Would the Sergeant-at-Arms please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Would the Minister please introduce his witnesses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to my right I have Dr. Erin Kelly who is the acting deputy minister for Environment and Natural Resources, to my left I have Susan Craig who is the director of finance and administration with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Welcome to the witnesses. Committee, this department starts on page 14, we will defer the departmental total until after we discuss the details beginning on page 17. Environment, infrastructure and investments, $125,000. There's detail on page 18 relating to this. Environment and Natural Resources, environment, infrastructure and investments, $125,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed
We move on to page 19, forest management with detail on page 20. Questions or comments on pages 19 and 20? Seeing none, Environment and Natural Resources, forest management, infrastructure investments, $1,830,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed
Continuing on to page 21. Environment and Natural Resources, water resources with detail on page 22. Committee agrees?
Agreed
Page 23, wildlife, with detail on page 24. Wildlife, infrastructure investments, $1,384,000. Do I see Mr. Thompson?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know it's not on here, but I'm trying to figure out where that lab is in Fort Simpson and what the status of the lab is? Is it still a building or a shell out there without any siding or anything on it? So if we can get the status on that capital project. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my understanding is that there was some issue with the design and the way it was constructed. I think we're currently working with the architect now and seeing if there's a way we can salvage what is there and, if not, it may have to come down and do another one.
But it's a little premature; we have to work with the architect and also the contractor. I had the opportunity to have a look at it while I was in Fort Simpson and I got a little bit of background on it, so we're wanting to ensure that we have a safe operating environment for wildlife officers that are in Fort Simpson so they don't get hurt. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson, do you have further questions?
No. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. So wildlife, infrastructure investments, $1,384,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed
If we could move back to page 14, Environment and Natural Resources, total capital estimate, $3,439,000. Does committee agree?
