Bidding war nixes schools

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Squabbling over who will get to build a school in a remote northern Ontario community has lead to the cancellation of that project, say government officials.

The Nibinamik First Nation, or Summer Beaver Band, has prohibited the lowest bidder on the $5.3 million project, Goodfellow Construction, to work in the community.

Goodfellow's bid came in at $5,096,000, an estimate the board believes to be unrealistic.

But the provincial government is legally bound to go with the lowest bidder, said education officer Alex Guthro.

"Otherwise, we would be open to lawsuits," said the former area supervisor. "We are not prepared to negotiate on the tender issue."

Guthro has worked with the band for almost a decade, supervising educational programs and negotiating for capital funds to build on Summer Beaver.

The band is in a unique position, not only because it is not on reserve land, and therefore does not quality for federal funding, it also has an elected school board, rather than having the school answer to the band council, as other Native communities do, said Guthro. That situation makes negotiating on any school issue difficult.

Chief Lawrence Yellowhead wants the job to go to the next lowest bid, by Wing Construction, a bid that came in at 1.2 per cent higher, or $63,000 more. The band wants the company in because they believe Wing is more experienced in northern construction and had formed a joint venture plan with the band.

"The economic impact of our five-year plan would be immediate in our community," said Yellowhead. "We need to have the benefits of this project to stay in the community."

The plan includes training residents in construction and building maintenance. Wings also has more experience in taking on projects in remote areas, said Yellowhead. Summer Beaver is approximately 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.

The Summer Beaver Band has been negotiating for a school since 1985. Presently, 95 school-aged children are being taught in one of three buildings, including a prefabricated, three-room trailer built in 1991. All the buildings lack running water.