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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
City council approved a $1.4-million contract to a New Zealand-based company for the second phase of its communications infrastructure project on Tuesday.

The contractor, Tait Radio Communications, has branch offices in Toronto and Houston, Texas.

PlanetWorks Consulting of North Vancouver will provide engineering consulting work for the project.

City councillor David Wind opposed the motion to award the contract and said he is concerned the city did not consider local expertise to take on the project.

"We should be concerned that only one compliant bidder, Tait Communications, came out of the request for proposal process run by the city to select the supplier for this work," Wind said.

He said suppliers from outside of the territory leave the city vulnerable because if the municipality wishes to make refinements or if there are any problems, there is no local expert to meet with directly.

The city received only two proposals for the project by its Sept. 30 deadline and one other out-of-territory applicant did not meeting the full specifications. This left the New Zealand-based company as the sole qualified bidder.

Public safety director Dennis Marchiori said this week that "local" hardware support has been arranged, which will cost the city $110,000, or one-fifth of the contract.

The entire budget for the communications infrastructure since 2009 rings in at $2.49 million.

"That doesn't make a never mind to me," said Wind. "If we are going to spend almost $2.5 million on infrastructure, for one, it is an opportunity to spend in the local economy. Second, if you invest in local economy to expand their capabilities in that sense you have somebody available to you."

The subject was also discussed at this week's municipal services committee.

Coun. Cory Vanthuyne said he had no problem with the contract but is concerned about how costs are divided over multiple years.

Much of the funding has now been carried over for the coming year.

"It appeared to me that this was supposed to have been done in stages ... and it seems we have gotten very little done in the first few years," he said.

"Now we amassed this big amount of money in 2012."

Daisy Fisher, a technical sales representative for Tait Radio Communications - not to be confused with locally owned Tait Communications and Consulting Inc. run by Leanne Tait - declined comment on the contract.

"It isn't official yet," Fisher said. "I guess we just have to sign the agreement. So right now I can't legally say anything yet."

In 2008, consultant Mory Kapustianyk of PlanetWorks told councillors the city was in dire need of an upgrade to its radio system used by public safety personnel, including the fire department and municipal enforcement. Among the problems identified was poor coverage in parts of the city for portable radios, radio channel resources, and dispatch location and operations that were not compliant with National Fire Prevention Association requirements for system reliability and monitoring.

The consultant also found that much of the radio equipment is ageing and out of date.

The project includes upgrading a VHF radio system and the implementation of a fault-tolerant microwave back haul system that can still operate in the event of an emergency.

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