Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the past I’ve brought this issue forward to the House. It’s an issue of contracting where our Public Works and Government Services has allowed someone to help them develop a tender, but at the same time they subsequently allow them to bid on the tender, and on a few occasions they have won the tender. The first one I’m going to note is when the water treatment program up in the North here had issued five contracts for water treatment. I had felt at the time that that was an unfair process that wasn’t open and honest. I’m concerned that another issue has come before me on my desk regarding another tender where a business in Yellowknife is concerned that somebody the government has used to help develop the tender process then went on and bid on the tender, and they won it.
Mr. Speaker, what’s becoming clear here is there’s a sort of unfair advantage being proposed by allowing the person who helps develop the tender and then to certainly turn around and bid on the tender. That may be perfectly legal, but it certainly doesn’t pass the smell test of what is perceived as fair.
Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister of Public Works is: What is he prepared to do to ensure that we have clear guidelines for anybody who helps prepare a tender to ensure that they’re shown and treated in the same way, in a fair manner, than somebody who wasn’t involved in the development of that tender so there’s no unfair advantage?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to assume that the Member is referring only to the contracts that fall under Public Works and Services and not the other departments. Mr. Speaker, it’s common practice across the government to confer and hire different companies that specialize in different sectors, different areas, different industries, to provide advice to help with the scoping and drafting of the project. The information shared is restricted to that process, especially if it’s a specific type of need, and there are really pretty rigid rules around how we do that. I don’t think that’s something that has been a big issue up to now. It’s been going on for many years and we had no real intent to change that. However, if the Member has some concerns, I’d be glad to hear from him. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear from the Minister, because Public Works is simply seen as the safeguard for...(inaudible)...policy in the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Minister would be correct that individual departments do have their own individual policies, but Public Works is seen as the centre of excellence when it comes to the area of recruitment and the rules to be followed by.
Mr. Speaker, the issue comes down to unfair advantage. You can’t tell the right side of the brain don’t talk to the left side of the brain when you go bid on a tender even though you tried to develop it. It’s a crazy way of saying please forget everything we did over the last month. Mr. Speaker, what safeguards does the Minister have in place, whether it’s rules or complaint processes, that should be established or are established, such as the Agreement on Internal Trade? What safeguards does the Minister have to protect those consumers who are in this type of problem? Thank you.
Maybe the Member can’t tell his right side of the brain to talk to the left side of the brain, Mr. Speaker. There is a fairly sensitive process that we follow to ensure that the information that is shared with a company that is hired by us to help us draft the contract specifications is only relevant to what we need from them. We don’t ask them to provide dollar amounts. We don’t ask them for a lot of different things. There is an appeal mechanism. If there are concerns, I would like to hear from industry. The Member is raising a concern and I’d certainly like to hear more of what he’s hearing or what he’s concerned about. There is myself, our staff, who are more than willing to respond to any type of complaint. Thank you.
As politicians we know that the power of perception, when something is seen or heard or certainly told, Mr. Speaker. My point being is that the power of perception here does not meet the “perceived to be fair” when it comes to the contract and tendering process, because we have no clear guidelines and appeal mechanisms. The Minister says they could appeal to the system, but that’s back to the finance director or, of course, go to the comptroller general, which shows no independence of our process. That was even highlighted by our Auditor General in her recent report regarding contracting, Mr. Speaker. One of the requests that committee supported was the development of an appeal process recognizing the Agreement on Internal Trade.
Mr. Speaker, where is this in the development of the government through its process to ensure that these contracts are seen as fair and are fair? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Member has raised concerns by the Auditor General that have been responded to. That information is public. That can be drawn down by the Member if he so wishes. I’m not really sure what the Member is concerned about. If it’s optics, well, I don’t know what we would do to change that besides not allowing anybody that works for us, that helps us prepare a document or works for us a resource, to bid on these contracts. That’s really going to lock out a lot of good quality companies and that would be a concern. That would certainly increase our costs. I’d need to see more of the specifics that the Member is referring to. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister didn’t answer the question, probably because he’s not aware of the answer. The fact is that I’ve had another business come to me and complain about government process and they’re concerned about if they raise it to the next level, that they’ll be treated in a biased way coming forward. I can give the Minister the example, but what process exists in today’s context that shows that there will be some independent evaluation that there is no nepotism when someone works to develop a tender and then subsequently wins it? We have nothing to show that we have clear demonstration of a process. Thank you.
I’m not going to respond to a document that he’s holding right in his hand and reading from and asks me to clarify what he’s reading. Mr. Speaker, the simple answer is we have not engaged in a process to review the system. If there are concerns, if there is a desire by a Member of this House for us to do that, we’ll certainly take that as recommendation. Up to now, it’s been an issue raised by the Member and we can continue that discussion if he so wishes. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
