Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain to me how a nonBIPed business gets BIP preference in the Northwest Territories on housing contracts through Housing NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question as well too. And it's a quite complex question as well, and I'm quite surprised to know of this, that we've awarded a contract to a nonBIPed company. But according to what I've received so for, that the evaluation was completed according to the BIP policy. There were five bids that were received, and as part of the process the companies are provided a rating, if they indicate they will be using local labour and these types of items with Housing will ensure that it's being done.
I will follow up with the department in making sure that these obligations are met and what type of penalties are going to be exercised if these local contractors are not being used to fulfill the needs within the Member's region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I'm really confused here because, you know, the company that was awarded the contract states that they will be using local content. So I'll be tabling a document later today to show that the local companies the electricians, the heating and plumbing, the local supplier, were not used. The trucking companies that the I mean, the company had actually brought in all the supplies from the south just before I came back after the weekend. So how is this department going to review and ensure that the BIP process was fairly applied to our local BIPed businesses. There's four of them that are BIPed and one that is not, and how does this contract get given to them with a 4 percent difference? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member as well too. And one thing with the portfolio is that we do have such a large housing roll out and my commitment to the Northwest Territories is that we keep majority of those contracts here in the North, and we are providing opportunities for small businesses and businesses within the territory as well.
What has been provided to me is that the contractor did confirm with Housing that they are using they are investing locally with the mechanicals that are required for the contract. But according to the Member's statement, I will be following up with Housing and looking forward to seeing if this has actually been fulfilled and exercising penalties if that is appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm still confused, because if this local company is going to use just the mechanical, what about the supplies? We know that the supplies have come in, and they're from the south. What about the electrical? There's one electrical company there; we know that they're not using them. So I'm asking the Minister to pull this contract and start awarding contracts if they're available this is a local company and award it to a BIPed company, not be giving our money to the south. This is a company that we paid millions of dollars to rebuild their own builds and then having another local contractors go in and fix their problems. So I'm asking the Minister to pull this contract and give it to a BIPed company. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, you know, thank you to the Member for the question as well too. And I just really would like to express that when these contracts and these opportunities do go out that the Indigenous groups are acknowledged first. There are letters that are out there and sent for interest if they're wanting to pursue these contracts. I will have to pull this back for further evaluation and review and just really taking into deep consideration the comments from the Member. I take this very seriously, and I will be reviewing that within the department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, we've got Crown corporations; we've got the Housing NWT; we've got the Northwest Territories Power Corporation; we've got NTech. We've got all these Crown corporations that our money is flowing through to, you know, and if we're not following one policy that can flow through all of our public dollars that we all have to apply to, then what are we doing? We need to follow one procurement policy within our government, within our Crown corporations, and so we can't be saying well, in this department we do this and in this department we do this.
So, Mr. Speaker, you know, what I want to do is if the NWT Housing Corporation Minister will be looking at her policy to ensure that it aligns with our new procurement policy and that it aligns with BIP policy so that we are doing what we are saying what we are going to do for the people of the Northwest Territories, the residents, the locals. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question as well too. And Housing does follow the GNWT procurement policy as well. And like I had mentioned, I take this very seriously. I want to bring this back to the department and provide a further response to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Thebacha.
