Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I mentioned I was going to be talking about procurement for the P3 projects that this government seems to be leaning more towards in the process of tendering. My question to the Minister of Finance is: can the Minister confirm the GNWT's P3 policy allowance for NWT vendor preference within that policy? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the P3 policy was enacted in May of 2011. I'm not sure the whole contents of the particular policy, but I do know, when they're putting a proposal together and it is presented, there are a number of factors that are taken into consideration. One is choosing a successful proponent. I would have to confirm it, but I think the question that the Member asked would be one of the items that they look at.
The driven approach for the P3 public/private partnership initiatives is to incorporate a P3 corporation, which this government has done. On our general tendering process, previous governments have incorporated the BIP policy to allow northern preference in giving that extra advantage to the local seasonal operators of our business community. In the concessionaire agreement that follows as part of the P3 initiative or tenement process, can the Minister confirm whether there's a BIP similar allowance in that concessionary agreement?
I would think not. The P3 projects that we do bring forward are usually very large projects that exceed the $5 million limit.
Will the Minister share some of the information on the highlights of the process for the P3 tendering process within the RFP?
I'd be happy to, if Members have questions on the P3 process. I would be happy to provide a briefing to the Members or I could have a conversation with the Member from Sahtu. We believe that P3 projects, we've had three of them: one is in the operations phase; one is in the construction phase; and one is actually in the procurement phase. Then we have three that we are looking at a feasibility study/business case for them. We'll continue to provide Members with regular updates on the P3 projects as we go forward.
Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you. I look forward to the information on the process and the schedules from the Minister. Mahsi.
I take that as a comment to the Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
