Norcope Construction parked several pieces of heavy equipment in front of Premier Dennis Fentie's corner office this morning to protest a $2-million contract award to another company.

Norcope owner Doug Gonder said during a press conference outside the administration building the government has breached the $15.9-million Whistle Bend contract with Norcope by providing additional work to Sidhu Trucking.

If the government was changing the scope of work on the Whistle Bend contract, there should have been negotiations with Norcope as a standard change order, he said.

Gonder said Norcope was asked for a price. He never heard anything back, however, until he learned Sidhu had been given the work to move some 270,000 more cubic metres of material.

Sidhu, he said, wasn't even working the neighbourhood. Now, Norcope has been ordered to stop work in a section of the subdivision where its crews had been stripping, so Sidhu Trucking can start moving dirt from the very same area.

The additional work, Gonder insisted, meets every definition of a change order in standard contract language, and should have been negotiated as such by the government.

It appears as though the government has been doing a little bid shopping behind closed doors, Gonder suggested.

He said if the government didn't agree the work was a change order to the Norcope contract, at the very least it should have gone back out to public tender.

"After seeking revised pricing from Norcope to perform this changed work, YTG unilaterally withdrew from negotiations required under the contract, aimed at achieving a fair and competitive price for the work required of Norcope,” said Gonder, reading from a prepared statement.

"As a result of YTG's actions, one of the largest portions of Norcope's work under the contract was given to a new contractor,” continued the Norcope president.

"Norcope believes that YTG failed to negotiate in good faith with Norcope to determine a fair and competitive price for the additional work, which was required under the contract, and effectively bid shopped the additional work in a behind-closed-doors process instead of following the dispute resolution process under its contract.”

Bid shopping behind closed doors, said Gonder, should be troubling for all contractors who do work for the government.

In fact, he said, he's already heard this morning from other heavy equipment contractors who are prepared to join his protest in support of his position.

Norcope employees, a management representative of at least one other large contractor and MLAs from both the Liberals and New Democrats gathered around as Gonder spoke.

There were no Yukon Party MLAs present. The Star's calls to Fentie and Community Services Minister Archie Lang went unanswered this morning.

Department of Community Services spokesman Matt King said today the department does not agree with Gonder's position that the scope of the work fell inside the original $15.9-million contract.

The work was provided to Sidhu Trucking as a "change order,” he said.

Sidhu Trucking, King added, is working on the Whistle Bend project as well.

He insisted there was no bid shopping going on.

Gonder told reporters he's got a lot of money tied up in equipment. He said he purchased more equipment anticipating the additional work would go to Norcope as a change order.

He's got employees depending on that work, but they've had to actually stop working where they were stripping to allow Sidhu's equipment to get in there.

How long Gonder will keep his four rock trucks and a loader parked out in front of the premier's office, and the four dump trucks parked outside the Hanson Street entrance, he's not sure.

There's no difference from the equipment sitting idle up at the Whistle Bend subdivision or in the parking lot of the main administration building, he said.

"They are getting notice as we speak that there is going to be legal action taken if they do not do something to correct this.”

City bylaw manager Dave Pruden said today his officers could probably go down to the administration building and find some violation.

So too could other enforcement agencies, he suggested.

Pruden said it was decided that as long as there was no disruption of traffic that it was better to allow Norcope to conduct its peaceful protest.

The first residential lots in the Whistlebend subdivision are scheduled to be ready next year.

Whistle Bend is expected to anchor the city's urban growth for 20 years.

Gonder was asked to comment about why there was such a large change in the scope of the work so soon after the main contract was awarded to his company.

He responded he couldn't say, other than to point out the original design he bid on wouldn't have worked, given what he knows of the additional work required.

He suggested there was something odd about the process from the start.

The tender, Gonder explained, closed March 1 but he wasn't awarded the work until almost a month later.

The change in design and the requirement to move another 270,000 cubic metres of material – roughly 15,000 truck loads – was made in mid-April, he explained.

Gonder said the government wanted Norcope to handle the change order for $1.

There's not a company on the planet that would agree to something like that, he said.

Gonder said Norcope came back with a number, which he doesn't want to discuss publicly.

When the government said no to the number, the company cut it in half, and never heard another thing, he said,

Gonder said to describe the award to Sidhu Trucking as a change order just doesn't work in the contracting world, because his company wasn't working anywhere near the area.

It would be like providing a company with a change order for an entirely different project at the other end of the city, he said.

With its price of $24 million, Gonder pointed out to reporters, Sidhu Trucking was the highest bidder on the contract awarded to Norcope for $15.9 million.

Castle Rock Enterprises was the next lowest at $17.5, followed by Skookum Asphalt at $21 million and Capcon Construction of Nanaimo, B.C. at $20.9 million.

But neither Castle Rock, Skookum nor Capcon were approached to do the work given to Sidhu, he pointed out.