Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Infrastructure. My first question would be to ask the Minister if she'd read the report from the standing committee of the 18th Assembly, but we have discussed it. I know she has read it. What I would love to know is what her position is on the recommendations contained in the report. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was looking to have that easy "Yes. I have read the report." I have read the report and the recommendations. Thank you. Ultimately, the report and everything in it seems to be a very good summary of the conversations that we have been having as a 19th Assembly here over the last eight months. There was a lot of good information in there that I am keen to see started. We do need to sit down as a group and determine what we want to get out of our procurement review. However, I had directed the department to do so ahead of COVID. Obviously, we are continuing on with that work. Part of that will play into our business advisory council, as well. Yes, I am fully in support of revamping our procurement process based along the lines of the recommendations of the 18th Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Given that we just simply don't have time to wait for the review of the Business Incentive Policy before we refocus our procurement on northern benefit, how does the Minister intend to ensure that government contracts will come with a benefit retention to Northerners?
I don't think we need to wait, necessarily, on the review to start making some of the changes. I do believe I have shared a letter where we made some small tweaks to the BIP policy or the procurement policies to that we could favour more northern businesses. As it was part of our mandate and priorities set by all of us, we are going to continue along with revamping the BIP program to make sure that it actually does what it intends and the loopholes are closed within the program.
We are also going to be doing a lot of communications around our Buy North or Shop NWT going forward and encouraging people to use our northern businesses and consider that when they are making their own personal and commercial purchases. I also want to say that I shared recently an email, or it will be going out today to my departmental staff in both departments, to encourage them to go forward, realizing that they are the on-the-ground, front-line people who will be supporting our northern businesses and that the work that they are doing is very important and encouraging them to always have the lens of northern business, Indigenous business when they are looking at procurement and review.
That makes me very happy to hear because our public servants are definitely in the driver's seat when it comes to making sure that northern procurement stays in the North and benefits northern workers. Would the Minister be willing to commit to quality-based procurement rather than lowest-bid rule while the department works to modernize its procurement policies to ensure that benefit retention to northern businesses and northern workers exists?
Quality-based selection is very close to my heart. It is something that, as a consulting engineer, we discuss often in our association. I speak to engineering projects; we do not feel that engineering is done well when it's done cheaply. You get what you pay for. I do commit to bringing in more of a quality-based selection mindset to the procurement process. Obviously, we have a duty to protect the public purse. We need to make sure we are getting value for our dollars. However, that discussion around the indirect benefits of keeping money in the North, i.e. not having people go onto income assistance, is a conversation I have been having with the department since the day I took this seat and will continue to have. We will just keep pushing this forward and making those changes.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. No. I am very thankful for the Minister for being able to have this conversation, but in order for us to be able to put our money where our mouth is, literally, and be able to show the people of the Northwest Territories that change is happening, although some of these changes do take time, will the Minister be willing to commit to providing this House with annual reports on all tender activities? Thank you.
There is an annual GNWT contacts report that can be found on the Department of Finance website, and it does list all the GNWT contracts. However, it is a very large and not very easy document to handle. I see the Finance Minister shaking her head in agreement. I do envision that our review process will involve an additional analysis beyond just that reporting of contracts and development of sort of a metrics or system in which we can track and see if we are doing better.
It's great to say, "Oh, we've got northern business," but, if you don't have any comparison or really understand what the number means, it's a bit of a useless fact. I do commit to figuring out a way to better communicate to the public, to the Members, to the business community how the business contracting is going out, in a plain-language type summary that people can understand, that is not an accounting, legalise or such type document. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
