GN use of consultants, sole-source contracts balloons

The Government of Nunavut’s use of sole source contracts and outside consultants has grown dramatically over the last in the last four years, the Nunavut legislative assembly’s committee of the whole heard June 1.

Citing the government’s own figures, Quttiktuq MLA Ron Elliott said the GN’s use of consultants increased more than five-fold from $3.3 million in 2006 to $17.2 million last year.

“We need to ask whether we are relying too heavily on consultants to do the work that should be performed by our own departments and employees,” Elliot said.

To a related question from Baker Lake MLA Moses Aupaluktuq, Lorne Kusugak, the minister of Community and Government Services, said the government usually hires contract workers when it can’t permanently fill a vacancy.

“It is just a problem of getting qualified staff to fill those positions and most of these are very specific jobs that cannot be filled immediately,” Kusugak said.

During the same hearing, Sanikiluaq MLA Allan Rumbolt said the number of sole-source contracts, which are issued without a competitive bid process, more than doubled between 2007 and 2009.

Rumbolt said the GN issued 310 sole-source contracts worth over $23 million in 2006-07, 515 sole-source contracts worth $48.1 million in 2007-08, and 437 sole-source contracts worth $46.7 million in 2008-09.

Kathleen Lausman, the deputy minister of Community and Government Services, told the committee many of the sole-source contracts are for computer software licenses and upgrades.

And Kusugak said specialized trades and emergencies represent “most” of the sole-source contracts issued by the government.

Kusugak singled out the 2008 flooding in Pangnirtung, which washed out bridges and cut off access to a reservoir, sewage lagoon and landfill, as “situations where sole-sourcing spikes up.”

Rumbolt also said the number of all types on contracts issued by the GN jumped from 1,053 in 2006-07 to 1,521 in 2008-09.

Kusugak said that increase “is directly attributed to the increase in [federal] infrastructure dollars that our government received.”