Mr. Speaker, I raise concerns today about the transparency and fairness of the recent awarding of a bundled contract for five water treatment plants to a consortium led by a southern contractor, the Abbotsford, B.C., group that I talked about. It has brought concern and attention to this process that need to be dealt with.
Can the Minister of MACA outline for this Assembly the involvement of this southern contractor’s services in supplying and developing the design of the water treatment plant process, and potentially even in the awarding of the contract?
Mr. Speaker, I need more clarity on which project he’s referring to. We haven't awarded any contracts for bundled water plants as of yet.
Mr. Speaker, I have a letter from Municipal and Community Affairs that says to the Northern firm, the one group from the North that applied on this RFP to do this proposal. They were told that they didn't get it. That only leads to the assumption — or I should say, the obvious position — that the southern firm must have been awarded the project, because we only had two groups applying for it. The Northern one didn't get it; the southern did. What was their involvement?
Mr. Speaker, I'll have to repeat my answer. There was no contract awarded. We are still in negotiations. I can't respond to the Member’s question.
Mr. Speaker, let’s put it this way. The Minister may be technically right, but when you tell one group, “You didn't get it,” that means the other group did get it. If you're still in negotiations with them….
What involvement did this group have, going back to the original work they had done — this southern company from Abbotsford — with the communities and MACA in preparing for this water treatment process bundled contract? In what process did they have involvement?
Mr. Speaker, this is a competitive procurement process that we have embarked on. The Member is asking questions for the details on the company that's bidding. At this time, I don't feel it’s appropriate to answer that.
Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, at least now we're on the same page on this whole issue. We're talking about the group that the Minister doesn't want to talk about.
To further clarify, I'd like the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs to agree to go back and look at the situation, because the southern contractor from Abbotsford, B.C., did a fair bit of work on these water treatment plants — and the potential proposal that came forward, that they bid on — and they are in negotiations right now and receiving…. Would he go back and review this file to make sure that everything was on the up-and-up, that they did not have an unfair advantage by building the proposal and then bidding on it and then subsequently getting it? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, maybe we're not on the same page. We haven't issued a contract yet. We certainly agree to go back and review it once we decide if there's going to be a contract issued. With no contract yet issued, it would be a worthless exercise.
