Progress On Procurement Policy In The Northwest Territories

Across the North, government procurement is big business. Governments strive to strike a balance between retaining procurement benefits (and dollars) in their own territories, while still providing value for tax payers. The Yukon Government recently overhauled its procurement policy to include advantages for Indigenous-owned businesses. Nunavut, through Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI), maintains the Inuit Firm Registry. The Northwest Territories (NWT) has some catching up to do.

Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) procurement represented 11% of the territory's 2022 GDP: $482.5 million.¹ In an ideal world, these big government dollars would be spent in and stay in the NWT. However, the GNWT needs to strike a balance between keeping procurement dollars in the North and running up against Northern capacity issues that inevitably see spending go down south to larger contractors.