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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
By awarding a contract without competition, the GNWT paid twice as much as it should have for a promotional website, according to a Yellowknife based web developer.

Last year, the government awarded K2 Communications a $115,000 sole-sourced contract to build the Come Make Your Mark website - a national marketing campaign to attract young people to move north.

The project was managed by K2 but the actual website creation was outsourced by K2 to Tait Communications.

News/North asked Paige Saunders of SOS New Media, who has designed websites for non-profit, government and private sector, to comb through the Come Make Your Mark site and provide an estimate on constructing a similar site.

Saunders broke down Come Make Your Mark's site components to include text writing, film, animation, photos, graphic design, translation and other components and came up with an estimate of $70,835.

According to Industry, Tourism and Investment spokesperson Alayna Ward, the department awarded K2 the website and ensuing marketing contract because the company had previously designed the campaign in 2009, so "it wouldn't have made any sense to then go and hire someone else " said Ward. "It was like changing horses in the middle of a race".

K2's 2009 design for the campaign was awarded to the company without a competitive tender. The GNWT Contract Registry for 2009-2010 reveals that K2 Communications was awarded $283,250 for a "National Marketing Campaign."

K2 Communications was also awarded $250,000 to launch the Come Make Your Mark campaign in Quebec, Ontario and Eastern Canada.

Between the years ending March 2010 and 2012, almost $1 million has been awarded to K2 for the Come Make Your Mark Campaign - more than $600,000 of that has been sole-sourced.

As to what differentiates a $115,000 website from a cheaper site, the proof is in the pudding, according to ITI's Alayna Ward. "It's an award winning site and well worth the money spent."

Tait Communications received a platinum award, a gold award and an honourable mention from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) 2011 MarCom Awards for Come Make Your Mark.

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