XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, edm.general   
   From: "@nyet.ca   
      
   Calgary Herald - May 24, 2014   
      
      
   Auditor general to investigate sole-source contracts to PR firm with   
   ties to PCs, Prentice   
      
      
   EDMONTON — Alberta’s auditor general says he will investigate the   
   sole-source contracts two government departments awarded to a public   
   relations company with ties to the PC government and Tory leadership   
   candidate Jim Prentice.   
      
   Merwan Saher said Friday he will examine the contracts awarded to   
   Navigator Ltd. — largely for flood-related communications work —   
   by   
   Municipal Affairs and Alberta Health to determine whether the   
   departments followed government policy in awarding them, rather than   
   asking companies to bid for them.   
      
   Saher said there may be situations when following the government’s   
   contracting policy is not appropriate, but that decision would have to   
   be “properly articulated and signed off by certain people.”   
      
   â€œIt needs to be a conscious decision not to follow the policy, and the   
   reason for doing that needs to be approved at the highest level,” he   
   said in an interview.   
      
   Saher said he advised the Alberta Liberals, who requested the probe,   
   that his office will begin the work this summer. The auditor general   
   said he would like to report his findings in his fall report, if possible.   
      
   Premier Dave Hancock has previously defended the decision not to tender   
   the contracts, saying it was critically important last year to get   
   information about flood programs to affected Albertans immediately.   
      
   Municipal Affairs spokeswoman Jennifer Renner said Friday the ministry   
   will “fully support” the auditor general’s investigation   
   and looks   
   forward to its recommendations.   
      
   â€œIn the wake of the worst natural disaster in Canadian history, the   
   Alberta government turned to Navigator to provide Albertans with clear   
   communications they needed,” she said. “Some might say that the   
   province moved too quickly with these contracts, but the residents of   
   the flooded communities needed fast action to access remediation   
   services.”   
      
   However, Liberal Leader Raj Sherman said by the time the firm was hired,   
   the immediate crisis had passed.   
      
   â€œThe only crisis that existed was Premier Redford’s leadership   
   review,” he said.   
      
   â€œPremier Hancock’s response was: ‘We sometimes have to roll   
   up our   
   sleeves and get the work done and do the paperwork later.’ Well, it   
   seems the only work that got done was a quarter-million dollars of   
   taxpayers’ money got given to Tory insiders for a crisis that existed   
   for a Tory premier at the time.”   
      
   Sherman said other Navigator contracts that totalled just less than the   
   $75,000 limit at which contracts must be tendered appeared to be “a   
   deliberate attempt to skirt the rules.”   
      
   Navigator, whose officials have been involved in political campaigns for   
   former Tory premiers as well as Prentice’s PC leadership bid, reported   
   in a news release last January that it billed the province $553,246 for   
   seven contracts dating back to 2011, including $313,200 for services   
   related to the flood.   
      
   Navigator’s principal manager Jason Hatcher said Friday his firm will   
   co-operate with any probe by the auditor general.   
      
   â€œTo be clear, Navigator is not being investigated,” Hatcher said.   
   â€œThe government asked us to do some work. We did some work for them.   
   We’re proud of the work we did.”   
      
   He stressed Navigator is not involved in Prentice’s campaign, but as a   
   longtime friend of the former Calgary MP, he has personally been   
   providing advice to him.   
      
   In an interview, Prentice said he would not allow the government to   
   award any untendered contracts to outside consultants if he wins the PC   
   leadership race, which wraps up this September.   
      
   â€œThere would be no sole-source contracts, and that applies to   
   Navigator,” he said. “Those rules will apply to everybody.”   
      
   Prentice also said Hatcher and another key Navigator official, Randy   
   Dawson, are longtime friends who are advising him, but he stressed:   
   â€œNavigator is not a part of my campaign in any way.”   
      
      
      
   http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=9872213&sponsor=   
      
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