Mr. Chairman, if there are no other general comments on the other side, I would like to just make a few comments. First of all, we have to keep in mind that we are dealing with a 1997-98 Auditor General's report. There has been considerable change since that time, and I assure the Members that I do take the motions and the recommendations very seriously.
We are undertaking a number of things since I became Minister responsible for Finance and Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, and the Development Corporation to sort out and straighten out some of the weaknesses in the system.
We are doing a review. I have a committee that is doing a review of the role, purpose, delivery of services of the Development Corporation, Business Credit Corporation, Community Futures and all of the programs that we deliver through Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development and Development Corporation, for either providing loans or grants or contributions to businesses and to individuals. So that is underway right now and I hope to have a report back from the committee by the first of April.
Though the Financial Management Board Secretariat is in the process of developing a third-party accountability framework which will ensure that third parties, corporations, agencies, and so on that we fund money through, that there is a standard expectation or requirement both in terms of accountability and also in reporting that is all standardized. That is being worked on through the Financial Management Board Secretariat right now.
The Business Incentive Policy, Mr. Bell already referenced that one. We are doing a review of the Business Incentive Policy, the BIP Program. I hope to have a draft of that in my hands within the next week or so and we will have a look at it. Again, we are aiming by April 1st to be able to bring back to the House a revised BIP that does ensure that we have a better process in place to provide incentives for Northern businesses.
In terms of another point that was raised, which was the trend toward increasing negotiated contracts, less tendering and so on, I think if we look at it since 1997-98, I expect we will see that the trend is beginning to turn around the other way.
The Minister responsible for Transportation and Public Works and Services just gave some figures on the tenders and the bids and so on, the projects were handled through both Transportation and Public Works.
In Transportation this year, 85 percent of the projects have been by public tender. Only 23 percent were by negotiated contracts. Invitational offers or proposals were 36 percent and 5.5...sorry, less than that on sole-source, much less than that.
In terms of Public Works and Services, we see 78 percent are by public tender. I think there is a trend that is going on here and we intend to keep that moving in that direction, that we do get back to a competitive system but also one that does give bonafide northern businesses, not just somebody who hangs up a sign, some advantage here.
The other issue I want to comment on is the publication or making public of information on loans that individuals have. We have to keep in mind that through the Business Credit Corporation I mentioned earlier, this is basically a banking operation, a bank of last resort. I did say I would take that under advisement and I am. I have talked briefly to a representative from one of the chambers of commerce. I want to talk to the business people and see how comfortable they are with this because it may not be a route that our business community wants to go. However, I want to check that and make sure it is a direction we want to take.
So, Mr. Chairman, I just want to make it clear that we do take the recommendations seriously. We are taking steps to turn around some of these things that have been recommended and commented on by the Auditor General. We take your comments and recommendations seriously and I intend to make some changes here so we do get much more positive reports from the Auditor General in future years. In fact, I think if you look at the Auditor General's report for the year ending 1999 that was tabled I believe on October 31st, that you will find the Auditor General's report indicates that there have been some improvements, particularly with the Northwest Territories Development Corporation, since that time. I am committed to turning around some of these questionable practices. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.