Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have had several occasions to speak about negotiated contracts and requests for proposals and the concern that is out there. I recently had a
meeting with the Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee of Yellowknife, on the issue of government contract methods. The chamber is pleased with the Minister's announcements that this is under study and that a report will be issued. The study is by the senior management of the territorial government departments. The committee has adopted several recommendations as a draft policy position. The Government Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Commerce would like to recommend that in the quarterly contracting reports of the government that:
1. They encourage the government to include contracting information for all departments and funded agencies. Funded agencies being such areas as the Housing Corporation, NWT Development Corporation, hospital boards and school boards;
2. They would also like to encourage the government to real-time post the report, when it is available, on its publicly-accessible Web sites, with key definitions;
3. They suggest the government develop a real-time reporting system that allows for the updating of publicly posted data, essentially at the time of the expenditure commitment;
4. The Chamber would like to also meet with the government to discuss possible ways in which the data is stored and presented on the Web site;
5. That the government report all contracts over $1,000 (rather than the current $5,000 guideline); finally
6. That the government provide post-contract award report cards for all RFP and tender competitions.
This report card should show a losing bidder's performance per criterion, against the average and standard deviations for that criterion. Initially unsuccessful northern bidders could then see where they were rated deficient, permitting them to sharpen their future bids for a higher success rate in capturing work. As I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, this subject has been discussed by me on a number of occasions and I wanted to pass on the recommendations of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
--Applause