Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I provided a line of questions to the Minster responsible for the Power Corporation. I would like to continue along that line of questioning today. I would like to start by asking the Minister: at the time that it became clear that the company Verdi was getting behind schedule on delivering these generators, what steps did the Power Corporation take to hold the company accountable, if certain benchmarks and certain milestones weren’t being met? Is there some form of penalty that was built into the contract? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When it became evident that this contract was going to be delayed, the Power Corporation looked at its various options. As I mentioned yesterday, to compensate for the lack of delivery, it was agreed with the vendor that they would cover any additional costs, including the cost of modular rental units that were brought into Jackfish in the winter of 2017 to ensure reliability. Because this bid was the lowest bidder, it was thought best to stick with this bid as that would be the best, in the long term, for the ratepayers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that the Minister has indicated that the company would essentially have to cover any costs incurred. It has been 24 hours since I asked this question yesterday, something along the lines of: what costs have been incurred since the delay of receiving these generators? The Minister indicated yesterday that there have been some rental costs for some backup generators of some sort. I am expecting that there are others costs. If this company is expected to pay those costs, has the Minister yet determined what those incurred costs are?
In the brief time since yesterday afternoon, no, I have not ascertained what those costs will be, but I am looking into it.
I would like to ask the Minister: what kind of “validating” does the Power Corporation do? What kind of assessment does it take when it is trying to evaluate suppliers or manufacturers that they use? I ask this question because, clearly, there were two other bidders in this proposal that are on this project that are well-known, larger, reputable Canadian companies. Their bids were very close to each other. I would like to ask the Minister: what kind of criteria do they use to determine what manufacturers they are going to choose to use?
As mentioned previously, Mr. Speaker, the vendor chosen, Virdi, had the lowest bid. It was significantly lower than the next bidder, and it was the best overall score in the evaluations. There was a careful evaluation made of the three admittedly competent bidders. We went with the best bidders. We went with the best bid.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sometimes “significantly lower” will raise a red flag. It has in the past, and that should have been a red flag, quite frankly. Something, Mr. Speaker, that I would like to ask the Minister is: given that there is an obvious delay in getting these generators, given that there appear to be some incurred costs and given that, since there has been significant time that has passed and the Canadian dollar has devalued in that time. Does the Minister believe that it is possible that the all-in cost, once we get these in-house and turnkey, that they will actually end up costing than the next bidder's cost would have been? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, obviously, that is to be determined, but I am not expecting that that would be the case. As mentioned earlier, Virdi, the bidder, the successful bidder, will compensate for the additional costs that I mentioned earlier, so we are still expecting this contract to be well under the other bids.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
