Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Your Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of the Report of the Auditor General on the Northwest Territories Deh Cho Bridge Project – 2011, Department of Transportation, and commends it to the House.
The Standing Committee on Government Operations held its public review of the report of the Auditor General of the Northwest Territories Deh Cho Bridge Project – 2011, Department of Transportation, on April 19th and 20th, 2011. The committee thanks the Auditor General, Ms. Sheila Fraser, and her staff for their work in preparing the report and in assisting the committee with its review. The committee also thanks the deputy minister of Transportation and his staff for their participation, as well as officials from the Financial Management Board Secretariat and the Department of Justice.
General Comments
The committee’s mandate includes reviewing reports of the Auditor General of Canada, and making recommendations to the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT). The committee wants to ensure that the GNWT demonstrates its accountability to the public.
The audit was undertaken at the request of the Legislative Assembly in March, 2010. It covered the period between September 2000 and October 2010. The Auditor General’s work for this report, “Northwest Territories Deh Cho Bridge Project – 2011, Department of Transportation” was substantially completed by October 29, 2010. It was tabled on March 1, 2011, during the Fifth Session of the 16th Legislative Assembly.
Bridge construction was in progress throughout the audit and it remains under construction with a target completion date of November 2011.
Phase I refers to the period between 2000 and 2010 when the Deh Cho Bridge project was referred to as a public-private partnership (P3). Phase II began in April 2010 when the GNWT
formally assumed full responsibility for the project, including construction management.
The Auditor General found that the project was not a P3, in that no significant risks were shared with the private partner. The project’s risks increased substantially when the GNWT authorized construction without a fully developed bridge design. After taking over the project, the Department of Transportation (the department) had a framework in place to manage the key risks, but the audit found weaknesses in the risk matrix. In the auditor’s view, significant risks remain in the areas of scope, schedule and cost.
The focus of the audit was to determine whether the GNWT adequately managed the risks of entering into a P3; and, whether, since taking over the project, the department had established a framework to manage the key risks associated with the project’s quality, schedule, scope and cost. The audit considered only the actions of the GNWT, not other aspects of the project such as the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation (DCBC) or contractors.
The audit report makes three recommendations related to the Deh Cho Bridge and future projects. The committee agrees with the recommendations and supports the department’s response to them.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I’d like to return the rest of the reading of the report to my honourable colleague, Mr. Robert Hawkins.