Another megaproject, another chance to dole out direct award contracts.

In April, the Alaska Highway News filed an access to information request for a list of the direct award contracts signed during the first stages of the Site C dam construction.

The list provided to the news at the end of July covers the period from Jan. 1, 2014 to Feb. 29, 2016 and is as interesting for what's in it as for what's redacted.

Unless a specific exemption exists, B.C. government rules dictate that the purchase of materials and service or construction contracts must be put to public tender when they exceed $25,000 and $100,000 in value, respectively.

Some of the exemptions BC Hydro relied on for its direct awards included: critical expertise, extension due to increased scope and time constraints.

The École polytechnique fédérale, Ducks Unlimited, two consultants and 23 companies are on the list.

It is odd that BC Hydro uses one piece of legislation to redact information that it's obligated to disclose under another.

The contracts ranged in value from $30,373 to $900,000, but that's only for the awards the utility disclosed.

Four of the 23 companies and the value of their contracts were redacted, as was the value of contracts with six other companies, including Duz Cho Construction, IDL Projects and Paul Paquette and Sons.

According to BC Hydro's list of payments to suppliers -- between April 2013 and March 2015 -- the utility paid Paquette and Sons $49,343, Duz Cho Construction ($6.16 million) and IDL Projects ($6.997 million).

Presumably all or part of their direct award payments are included in those totals.

It is odd that BC Hydro uses one piece of legislation to redact information that it's obligated to disclose under another.

There's no "he's a swell guy" exemption, but you get a sense from some of the awards that the "swellness" of the recipient may have been a factor.

Telus signed a $900,000 contract for mobile telecommunications due to its "critical expertise." Fido may draw issue with that.

Coincidentally, Telus has donated $481,366 to the B.C. Liberal party, not including an additional $52,883 in personal donations from two of its in-house lobbyists.