Mr. Speaker, I’ve got some questions today and suppose I’ll ask them of the Premier. In getting back to my Member’s statement, I wanted to talk about sole-sourcing contracts to former deputy ministers. I’d like to begin by asking the Premier if there is any political direction given from his Cabinet when it comes to sole-sourcing contracts to former deputy ministers. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have a number of contracting methods as the Government of the Northwest Territories -- sole-sourcing is one of them, negotiated contracts, RFP, public tender -- and we use all of those in a range of accessing services, whether it was with past employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories. We don’t give a specific direction and each department has these ways of seeking whether it’s a sole-source or a tender process. But departments have that initiative that they can use. When they come forward to request exemption is when we would deal with it. Thank you.
One of the things that I want to talk about is the process here today on how it’s possible that former deputy ministers get sole-source contracts with this government, and it goes back to the reply to a written question asked by my colleague, Mr. Bromley on a contract with BDK Applied Management Services for consultation and communication services provided to the Department of Finance. I’m just wondering, Mr. Speaker, if we want to talk about process, what process is followed that allows contracts to be sole-sourced to former deputy ministers. What process is this Cabinet and government following when it comes to handing out contracts like that? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the process for seeking or sole-sourcing, again, depending on the initiatives that are there and, again, all of the requirements to fit into either sole-source or negotiated contracts all have limits that would apply before there’s direct involvement from a deputy minister level or coming to the Cabinet or FMB table. So there are a number of processes that would be involved, whether it is specifically an initiative from a department and a Minister right on through the whole system. So we have processes in place and those are used as we seek to get the work done of government. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, some of this work performed by BDK Applied Management Services for consultation and communications services is, in fact, for our participation in Vancouver at the 2010 Games. I’d like to ask the Premier -- we have known about our participation at Vancouver 2010 for a long period of time, and again, getting back to the process -- why didn’t this go to RFP or why didn’t it go to tender? Why was that sole-sourced, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the work at the Olympics was one where it’s pan-territorial, so any initiative under that would have worked through the system of deputies that we had in place, and, again, involved the other territories. So I’ll get all the information on that.
By the way, just coming back from the NWT Day, it was a huge success, so our program delivered in Vancouver is getting the attention of the world as the Olympics goes on. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, know the work that’s been done down in Vancouver with Northern House and our participation there has been good. I’m not talking about that, Mr. Speaker, I’m talking about a process that’s allowed a former deputy minister to get a sole-source contract with this government. By the sounds of it, the Premier is saying that he’s got this working group of deputy ministers that review former deputy ministers. I think, Mr. Speaker, there’s something wrong with that. Will the Premier commit to having a look at the policy when it comes to sole-sourcing contracts to former deputy ministers and senior staff? Thank you.
Let’s be clear, though, the Olympics side of it, I don’t believe there’s a tie between what the Member has raised as a sole-source contract and the actual Olympic program that’s in place. For deputy ministers and senior staff of the Government of the Northwest Territories, past, that is, we can definitely sit down at some point and set some time up to go through the policies of this government. We’re using what’s been in place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
