2026 Contracting Information Session
• Introduction of Participants
• Contracting at Baffinland
• Advanced Contract Notifications
• Pre-Qualification
• Open Contracting Categories
• Preferred Inuit Firm Status
• Inuit Firm Assistance
• Business Capacity and Startup Fund
• Steensby Component Update
• Questions & Answers
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• ᐊᔪᙱᑎᑕᐅᕙᒌᕐᓃᑦ
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• Maximizing contracting with Inuit Firms is a key objective for Baffinland which includes contract tailoring, unbundling larger contracts and other subcontracting opportunities for smaller Inuit Firms.
• Many critical services at the Mary River Project are currently performed by Inuit Firms. These include:
❑ All camp services, including housekeeping and catering for camps at both Mary River and Milne Inlet.
❑ All logistics services, including the annual sealift (both goods and fuel resupply) and the air transportation of Baffinland’s employees to/from the Mary River Project site.
❑ Major civil earthworks and equipment maintenance.
❑ Workforce hiring and training.
❑ Environmental monitoring and socio-economic reporting .
• Baffinland is currently seeking to partner with 100% Inuitowned Firms to carry out smaller service contracts.
• From January 2024 to December 2025, more than $303 million dollars were paid to Inuit Firms through contracts with Baffinland during this period.
• When a contract is identified, Baffinland will issue out an Advanced Contract Notification to the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) Inuit Firm Registry to notify all Inuit owned businesses of upcoming and open contracting opportunities.
• An Advanced Contract Notification (ACN) email is distributed to all contact emails on this registry. Attached to the email is a PDF document that includes a high-level scope description, key milestone dates, anticipated positions and contracting categories. Also included is our Pre-qualification form.
• For contracts valued less than 3 million dollars, the ACN period is 21 days. For contracts over 3 million dollars, the ACN period is 45 days. Submittal of a pre-qualification questionnaire must be done within the deadline.
• To ensure your firm is receiving these contract notifications, please review and update any contact details directly with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
• If your firm is interested in the opportunity, you are required to send the completed pre-qualification form, along with examples of previous related work, to Baffinland by email to procurement@baffinland.com. This helps ensure all interested Inuit firms are able to demonstrate their experience and capabilities to compete for the contract.
• All Firms, including Inuit Firms, seeking to contract with Baffinland will need to pre-qualify for contracting opportunities by completing a pre-qualification questionnaire.
• The questionnaire is designed to give Baffinland an understanding of your Firm’s capabilities. You will be asked to provide information such as:
❑ Description of products and services offered by your Firm
❑ Previous projects and work experience, and performance on previous projects
❑ Whether your Firm has health & safety, quality control, and environmental management plans
❑ Your Firm’s Inuit employment and training history
❑ Ability to finance large contracts, where applicable
•This information will assist Baffinland in identifying suitable contracting opportunities for your Firm.
•Copies of the pre-qualification questionnaire are available at the BCLO offices, and can be requested by emailing procurement@Baffinland.com, or at https://www.baffinland.com/operation/contracting/ in both English and Inuktitut.
•One on one support is available to help complete the prequalification questionnaire.
procurement@Baffinland.com,
https://www.baffinland.com/operation/contracting/
• The following categories represent a few of the broader areas of products and services for which Baffinland is seeking to pre-qualify Inuit firms:
❑ Support Equipment (Boating, Snow equipment etc.)
❑ Tires, Wheels, Accessories
❑ Lumber
❑ Information Technology
❑ Small Tools
❑ Office Supplies
❑ Camp Supplies
❑ PPE
❑ Country Food
• These categories are intentionally defined at a broader level to encourage participation from Inuit firms with diverse capabilities and supply networks
• Wholly-owned Inuit Firms may now apply for Preferred Inuit Firm (PIF) status, which will allow qualifying Firms to gain early access to certain contracting opportunities at the Mary River Project.
• Any Inuit Firm must satisfy the following criteria to be designated as a PIF:
❑ Registered with NTI
❑ Located and operating within the Qikiqtani Region
❑ 100% owned and operated by Inuit
❑ Ability to demonstrate community presence
❑ Wholly-owned Inuit Firms may now apply for Preferred Inuit Firm (PIF) status, which will allow qualifying Firms to gain early access to certain contracting opportunities at the Mary River Project
ᐱᓇᔪᒍᓐᓇᖅᓯᔪᑦ
• Firms may complete and submit a PIF questionnaire to apply for PIF status.
• PIF Questionnaires are available at the BCLO offices, and can be requested by emailing procurement@Baffinland.com
• Baffinland and QIA have created an Inuit Firm Survey to better understand the needs of Inuit Firms and plan relevant assistance initiatives
• Additional assistance initiatives will be developed based on feedback to the Inuit Firm Survey
• 100% Inuit-owned Firms are encourage to contact Baffinland to discuss contracting opportunities - we are seeking to identify ways in which we can partner with Inuit Firms, including for minor services on site as well as in the North Baffin communities.
• Inuit Firm Business Development Engagement surveys are available at the BCLO offices, and can be requested by emailing procurement@Baffinland.com
The Mary River IIBA created the Business Capacity and Start-Up Fund to support Inuit in improving their existing businesses or starting new ones. This is administered by the Kakivak Association.
Funding is available to assist Inuit Firms with business start-ups and development of capacity in the following areas:
• Locating start-up capital and financing
• Management development
• On-going business management
• Financial management
• Contracts and procurement
• Human resources management
• ᐊᑎᓕᐅᖅᑕᐅᓯᒪᑉᐸᑕ
• ᐊᐅᓚᓂᖃᖅᑲᑕ
• ᓯᕗᓪᓕᐅᔾᔭᐅᕙᑦᑐᑦ
ᐊᑑᑎᕕᐅᔪᓂᑦ
• 51 ᐳᓴᓐᑎᒥᐅᓐᓃᑦ
ᐃᓄᓐᓄᑦ−ᓇᒻᒥᓂᕆᔭᐅᑉᐸᑦ
ᐊᐅᓚᑕᐅᖃᑦᑕᖃᓪᓗ.
To be eligible for funding, businesses must be:
• Registered on the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. Inuit Firm Registry,
• Operating in the Qikiqtani Region,
• Priority is given to businesses in the five impacted communities, and
• At least 51 percent Inuit-owned and controlled.
Baffinland has released several Advanced Contract Notifications (ACNs) and Request For Proposals (RFPs) for contract packages related to the Steensby Component of Mary River Project, including but not limited to;
• Various Civil scopes (rail alignment, bridges, pilings)
• Rail Superstructure
• Accommodations and Permanent Infrastructure
• Power Generation and Distribution
• Fuel Storage
Not only were numerous Inuit Firms pre-qualified and invited to participate in the RFP process, a number of other Inuit Firms were listed as qualified sub-contractors.
The Baffinland team working on the construction portion of the project continues many meaningful conversations with Inuit Firms, within the confines of the Commercial and Procurement process, to ensure meaningful involvement and capacity building opportunities.
• Baffinland will be hosting the following workshop, intended to walk Inuit Firms through the steps of the contracting process. The session is designed to answer questions and help Inuit firms feel more comfortable.
• Workshop Title: Getting Ready to Bid: A Guide to Baffinland Contracting
• Planned Topics:
❑ Walkthrough of the end-to-end contracting process, from Advanced Contract Notifications (ACNs) through quote and proposal submission
❑ Pre-qualification requirements, common gaps, and lessons learned
❑ Differences between quote-based scopes and RFP-based opportunities
❑ Available supports, including previous workshops, and high-level insights from the Inuit Firm Survey
• All Inuit Firms are invited to attend. If you are interested, please RSVP by emailing procurement@baffinland.com
Qikiqtani Inuit Association:
• Eva Onalik, Eonalik@QIA.ca
• Kris Mullaly, kmullaly@qia.ca
• Darlene Willie, Darlene.Willie@qia.ca
Baffinland Procurement:
• Natilee Zulerons, natilee.zulerons@Baffinland.com
• Siobhan MacDonald, siobhan.macdonald@Baffinland.com
• Sharon Kelly, sharon.kelly@baffinland.com
• Procurement, procurement@Baffinland.com
• ᐄᕙ ᐅᓇᓕᒃ, Eonalik@QIA.ca
• ᑯᕆᔅ ᒧᓛᓕ, kmullaly@qia.ca
• ᑕᐃᓖᓐ ᕗᐃᓕ, Darlene.Willie@qia.ca ᐹᕙᓐᓛᓐᑯᑦ
• ᓇᑏᓕ ᔪᓕᐅᓐᔅ, natilee.zulerons@Baffinland.com
• ᓯᕚᓐ ᒥᒃᑖᓄᓪ, siobhan.macdonald@Baffinland.com
• ᓯᐅᕋᓐ ᑭᓕ, sharon.kelly@baffinland.com
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