November 19, 1998

OIC to build second Nunavut office building in Iqaluit

In two or three months, the Office of the Interim Commissioner will pick a private contractor to build a second Nunavut government building in Iqaluit.

Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — The Office of the Interim Commissioner is reviewing preliminary proposals from a variety of private developers to erect a second large Nunavut government building in Iqaluit.

Eight firms have expressed interest in competing for what will certainly be a multi-million dollar long-term contract to build and lease back to the government 2,600 square metres of office space for approximately 140 Nunavut government employees.

"We had Inuit firms, non-Inuit firms, some people who have a great deal of experience in the office rental field, and some that are very new," said David Kravitz, Nunavut's deputy minister of public works. "So it's a real variety of companies that came to us. We'll see what they can come up with."

It will likely be built in the general vicinity of Nunavut's new Legislative Assembly building and a new federal government building that is now in its final design stages.

Unlike the Legislative Assembly, currently under construction by the Nunavut Construction Corp. (NCC), the proposed Nunavut government building would be devoted exclusively to work space for bureaucrats.

"The expression of interest was put out because we feel there is a shortfall of office space, plus we would really like to be able to consolidate the departments and not have them spread out all over town," Kravit Zsaid.

The OIC is close to completing its review of the eight preliminary proposals, and will invite the firms to submit detailed proposals.

Specifications for a request for proposals are also near completion.

"I don't know how many will actually complete the proposals. Some of them may decide to drop out at this point," Kravitz said.

"We'll probably give them about four to six weeks to put together the detailed proposal, and then once that comes we'll make a selection from among the proponents and do the fine tuning of the actual project."

Although cost will be a factor in the winning bid, so will Inuit involvement and northern experience.

The OIC also wants the government building ready for occupation by the spring of 2000, and with plans for a new federal government building of about the same size already in the works, the 1999 construction season in Iqaluit promises to be as busy as 1998.

Some of the proponents of the Nunavut government building are already leasing prime lots in the town's central four-corners district, close to the Legislative Assembly, and location will definitely be a selection criteria, Kravitz said.

"One of the things that's going to be difficult for many of these firms is pinning down a piece of land. And they're going to have to do this at the same time they give us the proposal."

"It would be difficult for us to use a building out in Apex."

A decision to look for more government work space was postponed until last month, when the final staffing plan for the Nunavut government was finalized and the OIC knew exactly how many Nunavut employees would end up in Iqaluit.