Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, how can a company who is not BIPed and one who is not BIPed because, according to the BIP policy, would not qualify them to be BIPed, still get awarded a contract with BIP adjustments? This doesn't make sense to me. You know, if the Minister can explain to me where this policy exists. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, a company that is not BIPed can still receive a BIP adjustment. That is pursuant to one of the interpretive bulletins that's associated. If you go to the BIP web page, there's a whole list of interpretive bulletins. What it matters is whether or not there's Northwest Territories content or local content and if, in fact, there's so in other words, the company that's bidding on a contract, if they themselves aren't BIPed but their direct subcontractors are, including or if they have local content, they are still eligible to use the BIP adjustment or the local content adjustments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I know I sent a lot of information and I know the Minister also received a letter from the contractor and the subcontractor, the local content subcontractors. So whose responsibility is it, when there's BIP adjustments, to hold this contractor to account that they ensure that these local content, local suppliers, are being utilized and if not, what happens? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, construction contracts are monitored throughout. There are expectations to have monthly BIP content updates provided. They're monitored certainly by the departments responsible but procurement shared services does also share in that role. And I can say, Mr. Speaker, one of the changes that came about early in the process of the procurement review was to introduce vendor performance management, and that is something that's still fairly new but it has now been added into contracting provisions such that the contractor now knows that they will be subject to those reviews. If they're not meeting the content, if they're not meeting the contents of what they're expected to do, what they've committed to do, that essentially does put them then, now that this has been into the contract, puts them in breach of contract which can bring with it a host of different remedies. One of those remedies may well be, Mr. Speaker, that they become ineligible as not being a responsible company, would be ineligible for future bids. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker, will this Minister, you know, review with her clients, like if we have contractors that have ongoing bidding and they're not utilizing local content but they say they are, is there a way to do a review of local contractors that have been doing this and not following this process? I just you know, I can't go back to my community and tell these local contractors who live and pay taxes in the North that being BIPed is nothing, it doesn't mean anything, because that's what we're saying, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had a conversation earlier with the Member, and I did receive this letter. So I have details of the specific incident that's given rise to these questions but the questions are ones that should be posed in the context of the work we're doing on the procurement review. Certainly no Minister who is responsible for any project wants to have to hear that, in fact, bids are not being received as we expect them, that the processes and policies we have in place are not being followed. Even vendor performance management, we don't want to have to use vendor performance management to monitor the businesses in the North. We want the businesses in the North to be bidding on projects, using local content, using local procurement. That's what we've heard from the business community too. So when there is this disconnect, Mr. Speaker, most certainly I will go back to the department and make sure that, as we finish up the procurement review, that the processes that are there in place are clear, simple, well known, that they're not spread across the different departments with different versions and different objectives, that there is a central monitoring agency, and that everyone knows that if you're not following what's there that you will face some form of penalty so that we hopefully are not hearing of cases like this that are creating this kind of confusion within the business community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I hope that the Minister will do that. You know, I mean, when I think of local content, I think of somebody who I could walk down the road and go and say hi because I know where they live, and that's "local" in my community, not somebody who shows up for seasonal work and then leaves or whenever there's a job and then leaves. You know, that's not local content to me.
So can the Minister advise us if a onestop procurement policy for all NWT, including Crown corporations, is being considered in this new procurement review and when can we expect this new procurement review policy to come into play? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was doing well on short answers but I think this last one's going to be a bit more challenging.
There's a lot happening in the realm of the procurement review right now. There's been a lot happening in the last year with respect to developing a procurement strategy with Indigenous governments and working with them in concert with them so that any Indigenous procurement is done with Indigenous businesses and Indigenous governments assisting us in driving and developing that. But in the meanwhile, Mr. Speaker, there's also the public procurement side of what happens within government. I can't say right now still if those two pieces will be, you know, two pieces or if it will all be worked in together but I'm expecting it will all be one unit at the end of the day.
I can also say, Mr. Speaker, that we have gotten to the point of sharing with Indigenous governments, and with my colleagues, a work plan that we're on, sharing principles that are the foundation to bring a unified focus to procurement rather than having different organizations and different objectives in different departments.
Mr. Speaker, a definition of a northern business and a definition of an Indigenous business are coming. They're coming in the life of this Assembly perhaps and not right at the end but sooner than that. And, Mr. Speaker, this will apply to the Housing Corporation. It will apply to the Liquor Commission. It will apply to all departments. Northwest Territories Power Corporation is the one Crown entity that I anticipate may be the source of some of the concern here. They are continuing, I believe, to still be under their own processes but I know my colleague at who is responsible for NTPC is certainly following along on what we are doing, and we could certainly have some further conversations on what they might be able to see and benefit from the process that we've undergone. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
