Thursday, March 23, 2017

This Contract In Clarkland...Sometimes A Numbered Company Is Just A Number...


...And Sometimes It Used To Have A Name.

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Thursday 6:00pm....First update...Here
Friday 9:00pm....Second update (and it's a big one)...Here
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For reasons likely best left unexplained, I sometimes like to poke around inside publicly available government databases just for the heck of it.

Anyway...

Last weekend I decided to have a look at recent BC government 'contracts'.

And the following is one that caught my eye:



Now, first of all, let's talk about the 'Procurement Process' that was used to by the Premier's Office to grant a $190,000 six month contract to a numbered company to provide said office with "strategic and personnel advice." from October 1st of last year until (surprise!) April 10th of this year.

According to the appropriate BC Government webpage this type of deal allows:

"...ministries to direct award purchase orders and contracts for goods, services or construction without competition under specific circumstances..."


In other words, this is a contract that was not put out for bids but instead was awarded directly to '1048216 B.C. LTD.' by the BC Liberal government.

And the rationale for that particular 'Direct Award'?

Why, 'Confidentiality', of course, which, according to government rules, means:



Gosh.

This must be super-important, super-secret stuff that this super-secret numbered company is doing, eh?

And it must have been just as super-important super-secret stuff that this same super-secret numbered company was doing for the Office of the Premier earlier last year as well, at least according to a recent government FOI release: (further link)
(further link)



Hmmmmm....

With all that super-secret, super-important stuff going down, I decided to take a shot and look up the numbered company that the Office of our Premier has given more than $400,000 to in the last year or so on the off chance that maybe it hadn't always been so super-secret with respect to, say, its name.

And...

Voila:




We are not entirely sure exactly what 'Steve Carr Consultants Inc.' was and/or what it did exactly before it became '1048216 B.C. LTD.' in the fall of 2015 and then went to work for the Office of the Premier on super-important super-secret stuff beginning in February of 2016.

However, I am pretty sure they were not a 'VIP Phone System' company in Australia that won't take web traffic from an IP address in British Columbia.

But I could be entirely wrong about that.

As for the following:



Well, I'm sure the identity of the two names is entirely a coincidence and the Premier's paid advisor (scroll down) has nothing whatsoever to do with a numbered company that is being paid by the Premier to give her office super-important super-secret strategic and personnel advice.



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Friday Mar24/17 @ 9:00pm....Please see 2nd update to this post (and it's a big one that has changed the conclusion significantly)...Here
On the 'flip' side....At least we know, for sure, that it is Gordon Wilson himself, apparently un-numbered, who received the an Order-In-Council sinecure that makes it possible for him to tell us that it our moral duty to ship LNG to the far east at $600 dollars a day, whether he 'works' or not.
And, thanks, to reader Lew (see the comments) who corrected me on the specific nature of the good Mr. Wilson's 'appointment'...Initially I said it was a contract...I got it wrong and apologize.


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9 comments:

Chuckstraight said...

Very interesting .

Anonymous said...

Tip of the iceberg?

e.a.f. said...

Oh my. Why would Christy and company want to pay Gordon Wilson all that money and why would they want it to be so quiet. Next question: what does Gordon Wilson have on Christy Clark and/or the B.C. Lieberals that they want to keep giving him all that money? Well I thought perhaps it might be work he was don't but then thought better of that......let us hope some one keeps digging and finds out what really is going on. Of course one should not expect the MSM to carry any of this any time soon. Ah, thank heavens for blogs and bloggers. they light up my life. yes I know there is a song by that name.

RossK said...

eaf--

The GWilson contract, and the associated expenses, as detailed by Bob Mackin at the link, is completely separate from the two contracts noted in this post.


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John's Aghast said...

OMG! And here all along I thought they were wasting all our money on things like, well trips to Haida Gwaii, India & Site C. Good to see a whack of it provided to...consultants. Sometimes more than once at a time?
I guess this is what you pay for transparency?

Can CC still be elected Premier from jail?

Anonymous said...

Since Carr has "retired" from the public service and is now being paid via this contract vehicle instead, I wonder if he's drawing a pension as well as contract dollars. He's only 56, so probably not, but stranger things have happened.

Lew said...

BC Public Accounts for 2014/15 show Deputy Minister Steven James Carr received $262,023 in salary and other compensation and $77,049 for travel. In fiscal 2015/16 he received $315,417 in salary and other compensation and $45,873 for travel.

In fiscal 2015/16 numbered company 1048216 received $57,394. Couldn’t find any payments to Stevecarr Consulting.

Mr. Carr was Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Natural Gas Development, and Gordon Wilson reports to the Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, and Labour. Wilson’s OIC appointment ends in February 2018 and is at $150,000 per annum plus expenses.

Hopefully all government endeavors by these three entities will cease very soon after May 09th, 2017.

RossK said...

Lew--

The company changed it's name to a number until late 2015 so that fits as far as the 2015/16 fiscal is concerned, not to mention the original contract.

The former deputy minister Mr. Carr's middle name is most interesting and may be germane here.

Thanks for the correction on Mr. Wilson's sinecure.

The LNG connection is most interesting to note however.

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Scotty on Denman said...

BC Liberals can't do nuthin' on the square.