Three ways the N.W.T. could fix government spending and boost the private sector

Government procurement has always been a hot topic of conversation in the Northwest Territories, and especially so lately. 

This is big business — the territorial government signed contracts to buy various goods and services for nearly $267 million last year alone, from over 570 suppliers. That doesn't even include credit card spending, which is normally tens of millions more. 

There are big concerns about keeping this spending in the N.W.T. whenever possible. The 19th Assembly has promised a review of government procurement, which should be concluded sometime in 2022, but in the meantime, they have already started to make some big changes.

The Procurement Shared Services group (the people in charge of helping government staff buy things) was moved from Infrastructure to Finance, and the territorial government recently signed an agreement with the Tlicho Government changing the way procurement in the region is handled. 

These are some welcome changes, but these changes still do not address many of the difficulties that exist for local businesses who want to participate in the procurement process. There are many things this government can do to improve procurement right now and we shouldn't wait until 2022.

First, re-orient the way our government spends money

If we want to grow a healthy and vibrant private sector, we need to start by linking government spending to economic development. The territorial government is by far the largest customer in many segments of the N.W.T. economy and that spending can have a huge impact on the success of businesses.

This means doing more, taking risks on smaller local companies, and helping build our northern businesses.  Strong N.W.T. companies will grow and provide goods and services to other provinces and territories, creating jobs at home. We're already spending the money — we need to make sure that our money is working for the people of the N.W.T. 

Rather than establishing meaningful relationships with local businesses, today, procurement is a purely transactional relationship. This has to change. Procurement staff must be empowered to establish relationships with local businesses so that they can better understand what services are, and aren't, available here. At the same time, businesses need to have the opportunity to better understand what areas exist for potential growth.

Second, be more open

It can be quite challenging to track down clear information about government tenders and contracts. Difficult to use websites, incomplete spreadsheets, and not knowing where to look are common problems. Businesses need easy access to information in order to know what opportunities might exist. There is a lack of information on standing offer agreements, potential contract renewals and other pieces of information that local businesses could use to plan better.

Today, territorial government departments all list their tenders on a single website, but using that same website isn't mandatory for crown corporations (such as NTPC) or other agencies, and it isn't available for use by Indigenous or community governments.

An easy solution would be to use the government's contracts portal as the one-stop shop for all government/public sector opportunities in the N.W.T. This would make opportunities easier to find for business and make sure governments reach more potential suppliers. Since the website is already operational, it also wouldn't cost much, if anything, to make this happen.

Third, know your vendors

The territorial government doesn't know much about the businesses that are bidding — or even the ones doing work with them. Many other jurisdictions collect basic information about bidders such as the size of their companies, where they are located, and who owns them.

Collecting this information, even something as basic as whether or not the average bidder is from the N.W.T., or how many small businesses are bidding, provides a basic measure of our economy.

Taking it a step further, in some jurisdictions, governments host trade shows where businesses can meet with government officials to better understand their needs and to pitch products or services they have that would have otherwise gone unrecognized.

This type of consultation would be easy to replicate in the N.W.T. and would really shed a lot of light on how we can work better together.

Government procurement is big business and even a few changes will go a long way in supporting local businesses to grow and thrive. This isn't an exhaustive list of changes that could be made to improve procurement and better use government spending to improve our economy, but it's a place to start — and waiting until 2022 isn't good for government or businesses.