Yellowknife (Jan 10/07) - A councillor is questioning why the public can't see the details of competing bids for two lucrative city projects.

Coun. David Wind asked city administration at the Priorities, Policies and Budget Committee meeting Jan. 2 why details on how companies' bids compared for the city's paving and water and sewage contracts were not available to anyone outside city council and administration.

Engineering firms made proposals for the Yellowknife 2007/08 water and sewer upgrade program and the 2007/08 paving program a few months ago.

Earth Tech Canada was given the water and sewage upgrading contract over FSC Architects and Engineers and A.D. Williams Engineering.

The paving contract was awarded to FSC Architects and Engineering, beating out Dillon Consulting Ltd. and A.D. Williams Engineering.

City council can view the details on how each firm was chosen, but it is a long-standing practice by the city not to make the information available to the public, including to the firms that bid on the contract, said city administrator Max Hall.

"The city has been doing it this way for over 30 years," said Hall.

Wind countered, "I'm very much in favour of bringing more information to the public, rather then just following past practices."

There's no reason this has to be confidential."

Coun. Bob Brooks said he found it difficult to follow Wind's logic on why the competitive information needed to be made public.

The only details on the competition which were made public were rating criteria, which included project team, methodology, past relevant experience, fees and past performance and location of the firm.

Brian George, manager of A.D. Williams Engineering, said overall he agrees with the closed process.

"Open tenders can certainly cause problems," he said.

He added that many times the information in a proposal is sensitive to the firm pitching it.

"Do you really want your ideas out in the public," he asked.

Coun. Dave McCann, who has said publicly that he believes in transparent politics, said that he agreed with Wind in theory, but the city's practice was accepted throughout the business culture.

"It seems like this is a purchasing practise," he said.

He added that when he was in the contracting business and was involved in competitive bids, he wondered why the information on the awarding process was never made public.

"It was difficult to learn what to do for the bid," he said. "I was always interested in more detail."

McCann and councillors Shelagh Montgomery and Mark Heyck all said they supported the decision of awarding the contracts to the firms chosen through the administration's process.