Yukon Liberals promise overhaul of gov't procurement process

Yukon's Liberal Party is promising sweeping reforms for government procurement policies ifit wins the territorial election next month.

• Yukon Votes 2016 coverage

The party says its policies will guarantee that local companies get more work on government capital projects.

"We will implement tendering standards that ensure local contractors have a level playing field and there are no barriers to entry when competing for government contracts," saidRanjPillai, the Liberal candidate for Porter Creek South.

Pillaisays roughly$250 million dollars in government capital spending has "left the territory" in big contracts awarded to non-Yukoncompanies. He saidthe new F.H. Collins school, the Whitehorse hospital expansion, and the Whistle Bend extended care facility areexamples of projects where Yukon firms were left out in the cold.

"We will ensure all tender submissions demonstrate measurable Yukon benefits as part of the evaluation process. This is being done in jurisdictions across the country, but not here. And we can do it," he said.

Preference for locally-made products

Pillai said a Liberal government would accept the recommendations of the procurement advisory panel report, and implement them by 2018. The Yukon Party has said it will implement the recommendations over the next five years.

Pillai added that a Liberal government would ensure locally-manufactured products have preference for procurement, pointing to the fact that local window manufacturer Northerm wasn't able to bid on supplying windows for F.H. Collins school.

"They're looked at as a local success story, yet their windows were specifically excluded from the F.H.Collins design. The result was that local companies were shut out."

Pillaisays his party's planwould double the exempt thresholds under AIT (Agreement on Interprovincial Trade) to $100,000 for goods, $250,000 for services, and $500,000 for construction. He said procurement under those thresholds would be limited tocompetitive bidding only open to Yukon businesses.

Pillai also promised that the Liberals would add a provision to all government tenders for local servicing and warranty work.

"The money needs to circulate here to benefit Yukon families and to help other local businesses grow," he said.