As noted in a CBC report, the Yukon government has been drawn into a tendering controversy over the accuracy of the time stamping clock at its bid deposit office:
For years, the concept of “Yukon Time” — the idea that time moves slower in the Yukon — has been a folksy tourism slogan for the territory. But when bids to build the Tatchun Creek bridge closed last month, the concept took on very real implications. Sidhu Trucking submitted a bid just under the wire at 3:59 p.m. (The deadline to submit was 4 p.m. local time.)
When the handler took a closer look at the bid’s details, the automatic clock in the contract services office had indeed time-stamped the submission at 4:00 p.m. — right on the deadline. But staff at the office recently tested the clock, and discovered it was running at least 1 minute and 28 seconds slow — meaning it would show the time as being 4:00 when in reality it was almost 90 seconds past 4:00 p.m. If that’s the case, Sidhu missed the deadline with their $4.2 million bid. And the company that submitted the next-lowest bid, CMF Construction, says it has the rights to the job, with their bid that came in $40,000 higher.
The government isn’t commenting on the case. But they’ve asked the Yukon Supreme Court to decide if the “Yukon time” showing on the clock at the Contract Services office should be honoured.
The story notes that the timing of the court’s decision remains uncertain.
