Opposition Leader Arthur Mitchell says somebody in the cabinet owes Norcope Construction an explanation about why a $2-million contract went straight to Sidhu Trucking.

Everybody knows the problems that followed when Premier Dennis Fentie approved the use of sole-source contracts for the extended care facility in Watson Lake, the Liberal leader suggested in an interview Wednesday.

He said $2 million is a large sum of money, and it's obvious that amount of money isn't given away by somebody in the government bureaucracy.

Community Services Minister Archie Lang had to be in the loop, Mitchell said.

"This is not, ‘Lets buy the Bostitch stapler instead of the Arrow stapler,'” he said. "We are talking about a $2-million contract here.”

Norcope employees drove a several pieces of heavy equipment down Two Mile Hill to the main administration building early Wednesday morning and parked it in the parking lot to protest the contract given to Sidhu Trucking. The equipment was still there this afternoon.

Norcope Construction was awarded a $15.9-million contract in March to install water, sewer and utility lines for the new Whistle Bend subdivision.

Company owner Doug Gonder explained at a news conference in front of the building yesterday that there is no question the additional $2 million to move the additional dirt should have gone to his company as an extra, under a regular change order procedure.

The government, however, failed to negotiate a fair arrangement after rejecting Norcope's price for the work, even after Gonder suggested a mediator be brought in to sort out the matter, he said.

Norcope is taking the government to court on the matter, and a hearing is scheduled for Friday of next week, cabinet spokeswoman Brianne Young confirmed

late this morning.

The Liberal leader said not only does somebody owe Gonder and Norcope an explanation, they owe one to Yukoners in general as well.

Somebody, he said, needs to explain how such a large chunk of additional work was identified so soon after the original contract was awarded to Norcope.

Mitchell has written the office of the Auditor General of Canada to seek assistance with sorting out the matter.

"I am concerned that the factual details of this contracting decision will be withheld from the public,” Mitchell wrote in his letter to interim Auditor General John Wiersema.

Yukon government spokesman Matt King said this morning the government would not be commenting on any aspect of the dispute, as it was determined last night the matter would be going to court.

King did reiterate the government does not agree with Norcope's position.

In an interview Wednesday, the government spokesman said the additional $2-million contract was given to Sidhu Trucking as a change order because the company was also doing major work in the Whistle Bend development.

Gonder, however, insisted yesterday there is no way in the normal world of contracting that this could be described as a change order to the Sidhu Trucking contract.

Sidhu, he said, wasn't even working in the area where the additional dirt has to be moved, the very same area where Norcope is working on its main $15.9-million contract.

Gonder said if the government didn't want to go with a change order in Norcope contract, it should have gone back out to public tender for the additional work.

Yesterday, King suggested time was factor in deciding to go with Sidhu Trucking.

King said this morning nobody would be addressing the matter of how $2 million worth of work was missed in the initial contracts.

But NDP critic Steve Cardiff said today it's obvious the government tendered the contract before all the engineering was done.

"Because now they have a whole bunch of work, I think 250,000, 270,000 cubic metres (15,000 truck loads) that they have to move,” Cardiff said.

"And now they are changing the grades on the roads, and in the lots, and you have to question why the appropriate engineering work was not done in the first place.”

Cardiff said in addressing the need to award the additional work, the government failed to go through the proper procedures outlined in the main contract with Norcope.

This is not the first time the government has breached standard contracting procedures, and that in itself is an issue, he said.

"The tender procedures should not be applied differently to different contracts,” Cardiff said.

"They should be applied equally, across the board on all government contracts.”

Instead, some employees at Norcope are out of work and people are having to spend a lot of money lawyers to get things sorted out, he said.

Liberal critic Gary McRobb suggested in the legislature back in March before the contract was awarded that something was smelling fishy.

The tender closed on March 1, McRobb pointed out in question period on March 21 and 22.

But yet, three weeks afterwards, he added, there was still no award and the clock was ticking on a priority project to get housing lots on the market by 2012.

McRobb said every day without an award, every week, meant more pressure on a contractor already saddled with an extremely tight deadline.

Lang, however, indicated all was well, and noted that under regular policy, the government had up to 60 days to make the award.

The award was made March 28. The final design for the Norcope contract was released in mid-April, along with the additional work required to re-contour a large section of the new subdivision not previously tendered.

Gonder said Wednesday had the additional work not been identified, there would have been sewer pipes sticking out of the ground in some areas.

Fentie and Lang did not respond Wednesday to a request for an interview.

The cabinet spokeswoman said this morning neither would be commenting on the matter on the basis that it's now before the courts.

Gonder explained yesterday he'd already invested in more heavy equipment and brought on more employees to carry out the additional stripping and moving dirt, fully expecting the work was a standard change order.