Liidlii Kue/Fort Simpson - A number of local businesspeople are raising questions about the process the Village of Fort Simpson follows to award contracts.

Dennis Nelner is one of the local businesspeople who is raising questions about the village's decision making process for awarding contracts. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The questions are in relation to the contract for solid waste disposal and landfill maintenance that was recently awarded. The village put out a call for proposals for those services, asking that they be submitted by July 6 after Xah Ndah Resources Ltd. said it could no longer fulfill the terms of its original contract.

A total of five groups put forward proposals including P.R. Contracting Ltd., Rowe's Construction, Simpson Disposals, Xah Ndah Resources Ltd. and Dennis Nelner in partnership with Dan Page.

Nelner is one of the people who is questioning the process. He's critical of the fact that when the contracts were examined all but one, P.R. Contracting Ltd.'s, were eliminated from consideration on the basis that they were non-compliant with the specifications asked for in the request for proposals. Nelner said he received a letter from the village stating that the proposal he submitted with Dan Page was disqualified on the grounds that it didn't clearly state if the proposed monthly price they gave was for the necessary five years.

Nelner admits that his proposal may not have made that clear, but says because the call for proposals requested a yearly price, good for five years, it was ridiculous for the village to assume it was for less time than that.

"Supposedly intelligent people are making asinine assumptions," Nelner said.

A simple phone call would have cleared up the matter, said Nelner, who is calling the reason for his disqualification "lame."

"The reasons they gave weren't good enough for me," he said.

After sending a letter to the mayor and council regarding the decision making process, Nelner said he's been told that he'll have to talk with the village's lawyer. A review of the whole proposal process in needed, he argued.

Andrew Gaule and Sean Whelly, who are partners in Simpson Disposals, are also looking for answers.

In a press release, Gaule stated that Simpson Disposals provided a comprehensive response that met the requirements of the municipality. During the procurement process, Gaule stated that he noted "several substantive irregularities" in both the expression of interest phase and the phase involving the submission of the final proposals. These irregularities had an effect on the fair awarding of the contract, Gaule wrote in the release.

Simpson Disposals' lawyer will be writing to the village to deal with the matter, Gaule indicated.

Tom Matus, the village's senior administrative officer, confirmed that four of the proposals were disregarded after they were deemed non-compliant with the request for proposals. The village council used legal counsel throughout the whole process, said Matus.

"We followed the legal process, nothing more, nothing less," he said.

In the case of non-compliance there is no appeal and clarification can't be requested of the bidder.

"If it's just not clear you can't do anything with it," Matus said.

As part of the subsequent negotiations process with the remaining candidate, P.R. Contracting, the cost of the service was addressed, said Matus. An original proposal cost of $377,158.60 per year was settled at $325,000. Village council approved the contract during a council meeting on Sept. 4.

In addition to questions about the process that was used to award the contract, Nelner, along with Owen Rowe of Rowe's Construction, have also raised questions about whether the village's decision was fiscally responsible.

Rowe said he has no problem with any of the candidates receiving the contract, but wants to know what the village's justification for the price is.

The previous contract held by Xah Ndah Resources Ltd. was for $851,875.15 for five years averaging approximately $170,375 a year. The new contract will amount to $1,625,000 over five years.

The taxpayers should have been consulted before the village almost doubled the garbage contract, said Rowe.

"It's the most obscene thing I've seen in 20 years living here and 35 years in construction as a contractor," Rowe said. "I think the whole village council and the mayor and the SAO should probably be fired."

Rowe's Construction's proposal was for approximately $177,000 a year compared to $240,000 for Dennis Nelner and a base price of $279,341.48 for Simpson Disposals. Xah Ndah couldn't be contacted by press time.

Even if four of the proposals were non-compliant, the fifth could have been discredited by the council because its cost was too high, said Rowe. A new request for proposals could have been started, he said.

The decision shows incompetence on the part of the village council, said Rowe.

Going back to a new request for proposals was an option, but it wasn't chosen, Matus said.

He added that the new contract includes some services that weren't in the original contract including excavating of new trenches at the landfill and grading the road to the site.

Village council wasn't surprised by the increase in the price, said Tom Wilson, the deputy mayor.

"We were expecting the increase," said Wilson.

Xah Ndah Resources Ltd. found they were having difficulties offering the services at the contracted price, said Wilson. Cost for things such as fuel and labour have risen, he said.

Council members didn't have any qualms over the price differences between the previous and new contract, said Wilson who spoke on behalf of council because Mayor Duncan Canvin was unavailable.

"The main thing is that we need to garbage picked up and we need the landfill maintained. Those are always the two overriding factors," said Wilson.