It’s funny how an exception often becomes the rule.
At Smithers council’s most recent meeting (Jan. 10) Deputy Mayor Frank Wray brought up just such a concern over the awarding of the Smithers Childcare Plan contract.
Wray did vote to directly award the contract on a single-source basis, but with a caveat.
“I’ve been concerned for a little while now that we’re awarding too many contracts directly,” he said. “Any given one has made sense. And that’s part of the problem.”
Wray made a point of saying this was just his opinion as a councillor, not as deputy mayor, but perhaps he should be throwing the weight of that designation behind the concern.
Wray is, after all, the most senior member of council having held a seat on Aldous Street for over 14 years. He knows better than most the importance of having a policy that makes single-sourcing for extenuating circumstances only.
In this case, the justifications were basically for the convenience of staff and the fact the contractor, Alison Watson of PLAN54 is both a known commodity and local.
We are not by any means casting aspersions against staff or PLAN54 or saying there is something untoward going on. In fact, in this case, it may well have been the right decision. At least council thought so.
And the convenience of staff and keeping it local are certainly not bad justifications.
Nevertheless, there is an old saying that perception is reality. And even the perception of favouritism can be bad for public confidence in the contract awarding process.
When single-sourcing is a rare occurrence, it is easy to let it go and say, ‘OK, well, it’s a one-off’ or ‘well, there must have been a good reason for it.’
But when it starts happening all the time, questions arise.
Why we are not using the preferred and legislated competitive bidding process?
Are we getting the best bang for our buck?
Now that this issue has been raised, both staff and council should tread carefully when it comes to awarding future contracts.