I wish to applaud minister Tom Osborne and the provincial government for making changes to the Public Procurement Act to support local business by allowing public bodies (including core government, school boards, health-care authorities, Crown corporations, municipalities, etc.) to give preference and award contracts to local companies provided they exceed the lowest bid by not more than 10 per cent.
In addition to this, government has increased the dollar threshold of when public bids have to be called, thus giving the public sector more discretion at the local level.
This was something that I and other Opposition MHA’s called for when the Public Procurement Act was debated in the House of Assembly approximately two years ago.
Unfortunately, at the time, these “details” were left to the regulations versus the legislation itself. This is significant because unlike legislation, regulations fall to the total discretion of the minister to implement and require no public debate whatsoever. I will leave this important legislative reform issue for future discussion.
With that said, I won’t dwell on the past; changes have now been made and that’s a good thing. Instead, I wish to comment on a couple of further measures that can be considered to provide even further opportunities for our local business community.
First of all, instead of focusing on large tenders for capital projects, government entities, in consultation with the local industry and where practical, could consider breaking these tenders down into smaller component parts in order to allow small local companies the opportunity to bid on components of projects for which they have capacity as opposed to allowing a large out-of-province company to come in and do all the work.
A similar approach could be taken in contrast to current tender bundling practices which in some cases make it impossible for small local business to compete.
Finally, there needs to be an education program initiated within government to instill a new mindset when it comes to purchasing of products and services. There are currently many medium sized purchases that require three quotes and small purchases that can be soul sourced. Under these circumstances, government agencies need to engrain the philosophy that every possible effort is to be made to ensure opportunities for small local businesses are maximized.
Now I realize there will be a counter argument to these proposed measures around direct cost to government and ultimately the taxpayer, however it is important that before taking that position, we consider the big picture.
This analysis should include the benefit of a strong and robust local business community, the taxes contributed into government coffers by those local businesses, local employment opportunities, taxes paid and money circulated into our local economy by those employees, the business spinoff factor created by those local businesses and local employees, and the fact that the majority of local business profits are recirculated in Newfoundland and Labrador versus the mainland.
This is not to mention the tremendous social contribution that local businesses make in our communities. Just think about it for a second: who is most likely to sponsor your child’s soccer team, to donate to your local fundraiser or to step up in the community during times of need?
It’s usually not the big corporations, but instead the small mom and pop operation who can afford it least but do it with a heart and a half.
They are our family members, friends and neighbours. They are members of our school, church and sports communities. They have a vested interest in our communities and our province as a whole. It is ultimately in our best interest to support them as they support us.
So I’ll end as I started by commending government for what they have done, but at the same time, encourage them to do even more.
Paul Lane, Independent MHA
District of Mount Pearl-Southlands
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