Too many untendered studies
Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 06/01) - When the GNWT unleashes expensive studies without telling anyone, it prevents the territory from finding a direction, an MLA charges.
Mike Miltenberger said two studies underway for the Health and Social Services Department worth $550,000 were hidden in the Territory's accounting books and not tendered.
Conglomerate Pricewaterhouse Coopers is working a $250,000 study to develop a knowledge management strategy.
Just last month MLA's learned by chance of a $300,000 health care study was also awarded without a public tender to Edmonton-based George Cuff and Associates.
Miltenberger said "those are the only ones we know about, I don't know how many other contracts they may have let,"
Frame Lake MLA Charles Dent said "there seems to be study after study with no competitive process and they always go to southern companies."
Miltenberger said government departments are "tripping over consultants " with studies that either fling off in different directions or duplicate efforts. It all serves to prevent GNWT from finding a direction, he said.
He can't see any difference between the PricewaterhouseCoopers study and a $250,000 project to figure out how to best use computers in health care by Vancouver-based Sierra Systems Consulting.
Miltenberger says news of the Sierra study "just happened to come out" at a meeting of all MLA's to look at public accounts.
Health Minister Jane Groenewegen did not return calls. Her deputy minister defended the failure to tender process and said the government was in a hurry, and picked a company with special expertise.
Mark Cleveland said Sierra Systems Consulting worked out well on other government health information contracts.
Sierra's ability at using computers to track and analyze health issues "is seen as very important," Cleveland said.
Miltenberger believes northern-based technology companies may be capable of handling government studies, and that tendering is the only way to get good value.
"It would seem that Health and Social Services can issue sole-source contracts whenever it strikes them," he said.
