Debates of May 16, 2007 (day 8)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Dent, the Minister responsible for Human Resources. It concerns the awarding of the employee and family assistance contract earlier this year. Mr. Speaker, given the high quality of service demonstrated by Northstar over the seven years that it had this contract, and given the tremendous increase in the size of the civil service and the growth in the number of requests over these years, and given the intrinsic value of nurturing, protecting and enabling northern grown businesses to stay in business here to keep resident professionals in the NWT, what were the reasons that the government awarded the employee assistance contract to the outside company Shepell-fgi, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Dent.

Return To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were three respondents to the public call for request for proposals and all were evaluated on four criteria: the capability of the proponents, the methodology or approach proposed by the proponents, the level of service, and cost. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Mr. Speaker, does the successful bidder, Shepell-fgi, have an office here in the NWT and resident full-time staff? Is it fully compliant with the conditions of the business incentive policy that is in place to, in fact, enable northern businesses to be sustained here?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Shepell-fgi does not, to the best of my knowledge, have a resident or an office in the Northwest Territories. They did, however, list a number of subcontractors who are registered with the BIP. So BIP would have been allocated for those subcontractors in their proposal.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Mr. Speaker, to what extent is cost a factor in evaluating this kind of service? Do we have any sense of just how much of the value of this contract is going to be staying here in the North as opposed to being in the hands of a southern firm, Mr. Speaker? We know, for instance, from the Northstar folks, because virtually all of their services are supplied by resident contractors, but 92 per cent of the value of the contract stayed in the North. How much are Shepell-fgi's going to, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the first question, the costs of the proposal was one of the four important aspects that was evaluated, one of the four areas. The proposal was put out with a fixed cost in it. The proposal was advertised as having a budget set at a certain amount, and proponents were asked to respond to tell us what could be provided within that budget.

The issue of how much of the expenditures will be remaining in the North, again, there will be some variety, I guess. We will have to watch and see how much stays in the North. We have a responsibility, now that the contract has been awarded, to monitor that the expenditures are as they were set out in the proposal and ensure that subcontractors who are resident northerners are used to the extent that were proposed in the proposal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Mr. Speaker, given the irregularities in the way the contract was administered and awarded, the principals of Northstar have requested that the RFP be re-bid, re-assessed and a new award considered under an objective and impartial process. I support that request. Will the Minister take this and indeed reopen this RFP, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When Northstar came to me and identified their concerns, I asked the BIP monitoring office in ITI to review the process. I have subsequently asked the Department of Justice to review the process, as well as the Department of Public Works and Services to review the process. All three have come back to me and advised that there is not enough that was wrong with the process to warrant overturning it. As Public Works has said, there were a number of procedural issues with the RFP, but while they may lend themselves to an error of public uncertainty about the process, they did not constitute any error in the issuance of the final RFP or in the resultant contract. So that is the advice that I have been given. Thank you.