Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 24/98) - A contract to develop economic strategies for Nunavut and the Western Arctic is behind schedule and will cost close to half a million dollars, instead of the $300,000 reported earlier in Yellowknifer.

On Wednesday, GNWT cabinet secretary Andrew Gamble discussed details of the contract, which was awarded to Roland Bailey, a former deputy minister and cabinet secretary and a central figure in the conflict of interest complaint against Premier Don Morin.

"Our schedule has slipped from what the RFP (Request for Proposals) said. The contract award was delayed as well. We're looking to have draft strategies done by early fall," said Gamble.

In the RFP, advertisement April 20 in News/North, the deadline for proposals was April 30. Bidders had only 10 days to put together a proposal with the final draft deadline was July 31.

"For this one we felt 10 days was enough. We had about a dozen people pick up the package. We only got in the end one proposal," he said.

Of the people who picked up papers but did not bid, two or three felt that the contract was too big and too broad for them, Gamble said. But they were interested in a piece of the contract, he added.

"They had expertise in one or two areas but didn't feel they could tie the whole thing together. Some of the consultants who did pick up the proposal are doing work on some segments of it."

Gamble has not met with Bailey to find out what progress he's making but he intends to do that fairly soon.

Bailey will work with a team of two or three other consultants and three or four government department specialists on the contract.

His role will be to co-ordinate and lead the efforts of dozens of GNWT employees.

"It's not normal. When you use consultants normally you give a consultant a job and turn him loose. In this case, we're trying to get the best expertise of government and the private sector and I think it's going to work," said Gamble.

The contract could not have been done without a consultant because they need a private sector view, he said.

The strategies will try to identify key economic development opportunities in Nunavut and the western territory. It will look at partnerships in infrastructure, community, business and labor force development and find ways to take advantage of potential in these areas.

A list of recommendations from the work will be put forward for the GNWT later this year. The Nunavut government will receive a discussion paper to be used or not as a basis for their economic strategy after April 1, 1999.