Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions are for the Minister of Finance. On May 7th of this year, the NWT health authority announced a new air ambulance contract with Access Air Ambulance, so that's a joint venture between Advanced Medical Solutions, Air Tindi, Aklak Air, Det’on Cho, and Tlicho Investment Corporation, but a few -- oh, it was also mentioned in the press release that through the contract Access Air Ambulance committed to achieve substantial levels of NWT content as per the Business Incentive Policy. And a few days later, we saw in the news that Advanced Medical Solutions was actually taken over by a non-northern based company.
Can the Minister explain, in a situation like this, where a 10-year contract has just been awarded based on certain understood levels of northern content, can a contract like this be reviewed if circumstances like this change around northern content or ownership? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not in a position to speak to a specific procurement event here on the floor of the House. Certainly would be happy to find the details. We do, if there's a procurement event, obviously we are monitoring now to make sure that contracts are complied with and that commitments are applied with, whether it's to northern hiring, northern spends. That is part of vendor performance management now, and so certainly happy to make the commitment that we will do that. If there's fundamentals that have changed in a contract and they're not being met, again, that too can be something that may be dealt with. But probably wouldn't be dealt with here on the floor of the House. So, again, you know, really, making those assurances, again, that we want to hold people to the commitments that they make and told them particularly to the commitments that they make under BIP. Without knowing in front of me whether or not -- what commitments were made and whether or not they've been complied with, that's all I can say is to ensure that we will make the effort to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand we can't speak to details of any particular contract on the floor. But just in general in terms of the process or how it works, can the Minister explain whether the department would be proactively checking and enforcing, you know, northern content and ownership or whether it would be sort of reviewed on a complaints’ basis only. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So a couple of the departments are involved. I can say that for in terms of BIP component and whether or not a business complies and continues to comply with BIP, that is monitored regularly through folks at ITI, and whether or not there's -- and then on the procurement side, Mr. Speaker, obviously, sometimes people like to suggest that we should move our procurement processes faster. One of the things we do try to do, of course, is to verify whether or not when someone is bidding on a contract that they are, in fact, providing information as necessary and as is required in order to ensure that we're satisfying ourselves that when they've made a bid that they are -- that they do have the necessary information. And then beyond that, once they've done that, again, we've introduced vendor performance management so that those who have made certain commitments in their contracts do, in fact, actively achieve them, and that is monitored regularly by the project officers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister explain what would be the government's recourse if it found that a contractor was not living up to its commitments, you know, under the BIP policy in this case. What would be the government's recourse or what would be the process that would happen from there? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a host of different opportunities -- or possibilities here too. And certainly could be anything from, you know, looking at whether or not there's been a breach of contract in a more extreme circumstance, and then that could then lead to a number of different potential outcomes. There's also certainly, under our procurement policies, the ability -- or possibility that someone can, in particularly egregious situations or repetitive situations, someone could actually be named or noted as being a non-responsible contractor which could then lead to them having -- you know, being notified that they may not be permitted to make future bids. So, again, depending on the severity and on where the error might arise. If they're -- again, you know, if they're not achieving the goals that they have under vendor performance management and we can see that, we've also introduced the ability for holdbacks, greater holdbacks in certain type of contracts, and they may not get their holdback if they're not, again, meeting their commitment. So it depends a little bit on the circumstance and the type of contract, but there are a number of tools in the toolbox. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
