I don't have the article that you mentioned right in front of me. I was looking for it, and I recognize the reference that you made.
I think part of the problem is not the fact that they're private companies. Whatever the tendering process is, the policy has to be very well done and airtight. This is more of a government problem because, in that issue, they recognize that the criticism was that the federal government was pushing that first nation to adopt the lowest tender, which happened to go with this company that had this reputation. I think it illustrates a problem with the government getting entangled in this. This is where it gets into trouble.
If they are going to have these private companies helping out by doing the construction, they have to make sure that they have good polices, that they're not pressuring first nations to adopt the cheapest bids and that they're looking into the companies.
I recommended in that article that first nations have access to information about construction firms so that they can make informed decisions.