Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we were originally planning to design the school and put it out to tender. However, as I explained in standing
committee, based on our track record of, I guess, enticing competition, we knew that we ran a pretty good chance of designing the project until its completion, putting it out to tender and only having one company bid on it.
Then as we were working our way through the design process, we had a request for a negotiated contract. We went through the policy, the approvals were sought and received, and then we brought in the contractor in the early part of the project to get their input on the buildability of the project, with the intention of trying to save money. In a way it did provide some value to the design at that point. Construction costs were in excess of about $110 million. Through the use of value engineering brought forward by the contractor, we were able to get that down under a hundred million dollars for the construction. Based on previous experience, such as in Fort Good Hope when we put a design build-up for a school, we only really had one contractor. We did have a southern based contractor bid on the school, but we ended up paying a $1.3 million VIP premium on that facility. So I think we’re getting fair value if you look at what the costs are for this school versus what we’re paying for the renovation of St. Joe’s, where it’s a renovation project. You know, the cost of construction is around $6,100 to $6,200 a square metre. That cost was a given last year. Remember, we saved $9 million on that school.
The school in Inuvik is really two schools under one roof. It’s K to 12. It’s about four times the size of St. Joe’s, and St. Joe’s is about $30 million. So if you look at the ratio proportion — plus this is a cost that’s going to be carried over the next four years — I think the cost is quite reasonable given what we’re paying here in Yellowknife for construction now for St. Joe’s or what we paid in N’dilo for École Allain St-Cyr.
So to answer the MLA’s questions, we did consider other options. However, we have a process for a negotiated contract that was supported by the region and the community, and I think we’re getting decent value for the proposal that we have in front of us. Thank you.