Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today with breaking news stories from around the country on a local level we learned from CBC News today about a story with regard to the Power Corporation and some generators which the Power Corporation has ordered, so my questions today are for the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation.
Mr. Speaker, it seems as though these generators have been awarded to a contractor. Some 25 inspections or visits have taken place with regard to the progress of the design and development of these generators, and it seems as though, according to the article, little or no progress has been made to date. So in the interests of protecting our investments,
I want to ask the Minister: has the Power Corporation put any kind of funds towards this $2.5 million contract to date? Is there some form of deposit or funds that ratepayers have paid to date? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can advise that the Power Corporation did order generators from Virdi Power Inc. in June of 2015; I understand that $1.1 million has been paid to the vendor and we're hoping that the generators will arrive by the end of spring. Thank you.
One of the things that the article pointed out was that there were three bidders on this particular project, two of which have very familiar names and are very well-known brands and have experience and came within just a few dollars of each other in terms of the bid.
The winning bid, apparently, came in a million dollars shy of that. Would that not have been a red flag to the Power Corporation as something that could be considered a non-responsible bid? Would there not have been some work that needed to be done to further evaluate whether that bid was even a legitimate bid? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The company that did win the bid, Virdi Power, is a company very well known in the industry. I understand that there was a careful evaluation of the bid made by the Power Corporation. The bid from Virdi was the lowest rated, and among the factors looked at was price.
Mr. Speaker, I guess the question has to be: now that we've had a delay in receiving these generators, what kind of costs are we incurring? What kind of costs have we had to incur to date? I'm not talking about the deposit or what have you that was put down; I'm talking about locally. These were intended to replace aging infrastructure. Have we got temporary generators in place? What kind of costs have ratepayers incurred to date to take care of this void that was supposed to be filled by these new generators?
The Power Corporation, when they became aware of this, this problem of delay, went back to the company, and the company to its credit, to compensate for the lack of delivery, the vendor, Virdi, agreed to cover any additional costs, including the costs of the modular rental units that were brought into Jackfish for the winter of 2017 to ensure reliability. So the company will be absorbing those costs.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had a separate question for my final question, but I now have to ask: what are those costs? If they're going to cover them and we are notably incurring them, what are the costs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, the company, Virdi, which is a very reputable firm, has been in the business for many years, supplies American military among others, has agreed to cover those costs. I do not have a detailed list of the costs, but I can seek that from the Power Corporation.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
