Steinbach city council spent some time this week reviewing the city's tendering and procurement policies. Mayor Chris Goertzen says it was done to make sure the city is in line with an inter-provincial trade deal.

Mayor Chris Goertzen" Because of the New West Partnership that the province has signed onto, an agreement between all of the western provinces, there are some new rules that we need to follow. First and foremost, the rule of local preference, where you give preference to someone who is local that may not have had the lowest bid. That is not allowed. It's not something the city has ever done. We wanted to make sure that we were in line with the policies required by the New West Partnership."

But Goertzen notes there will be one change as a result of that agreement. Steinbach will now tender all contracts $200,000 and higher. He notes the previous threshold was $250,000 and up, as was required by NAFTA  (North American Free Trade Agreement).

Goertzen says while the city does not have a local preference policy for tendering and procurement, local companies often secure city contracts.

"Our local contractors are very effective and very competitive. They have an advantage being close by and we always hope that they can get the contracts that are there. But the process that we've had has been very good and we will follow very much along the same lines. We want to fall in line with the New West Partnership and we want to make sure our policies are accurate and the best for the taxpayer as well."