New facilities, equipment and/or furnishing will be considered where:
1. A new program has been established that requires additional facilities, equipment and/or furnishings.
2. The user population has increased, warranting additional facilities, equipment and/or furnishings.

Replacement will be provided where the existing facility or equipment:
1. are destroyed accidentally
2. are considered uneconomical to operate
3. constitute a life safety hazard according to authorities with Jurisdiction, that cannot be corrected economically.

Renovation and/or upgrade will be considered where:
1. A cost/benefit analysis proves to show a cost-effective method for extending the life of the facility or equipment.
2. Due to limited funding available, this option is the only solution available to meet the needs of the users.
3. A change in the original intent of the facility or equipment can be accommodated economically through this approach.

Project priorities
All potential projects are evaluated according to the Department's priorities for capital funding. The highest rated projects receive first consideration; other projects receive consideration depending on their ranking until available resources are exhausted.

Project priorities are as follows:
1. life safety and health concerns;
2. shortfalls; projects that have an implicit need but are unable to meet this need due to a lack of facilities, equipment, and/or furnishings;
3. deficiencies; projects that lack amenities to properly address the intended need;
4. upgrades; projects that comply with all the fundamental needs but due to age, lack of output, or reduced quality could better serve the users through an upgrade;
5. technical improvements that are not program requirements but form integral components of the facility, equipment, and/or furnishing.

Principles
To develop adequate infrastructure, standards and criteria must be based on need, while providing a uniform quality of service across Nunavut. These Standards and Criteria help translate this need into a tangible facility or service.

For standards and criteria to work properly, the need must be fairly uniform, and the solutions must be consistent, although with some flexibility to address individual project concerns. Where facilities and capital programs deal with predictable, uniform situations, standards and criteria can be prescriptive. When the need is unique and specific, standards and criteria become more general, expressing acceptable ranges rather than specific details. Uniqueness can be the result of function, environment, culture, demographics, finances and the individuality of the specific program.

Some projects can be assessed according to fairly rigid standards. To a certain extent, schools, advanced education facilities and residences fall under this category. They all have reasonably fixed needs which are contingent upon the number of users involved, and therefore formula-driven standards. In these categories, needs become more unique as they become more specialized and non-standard. When this occurs, the need determines the nature of the work since it becomes impractical to try and anticipate all possible deviations.

Some projects are unique in their initial format, and cannot adhere strictly to a set of standards and criteria. Museums, territorial libraries, and campus educational buildings respond to individual and unique demands where programming becomes the critical factor in choosing an effective solution. Project- specific programs address the needs of these capital initiatives.

Where applicable, standards and criteria are shown for each of the funding categories.

STANDARDS AND CRITERIA

Program Statement
The Department of Education shall provide capital resources required to deliver programs in accordance with the objectives established by the Government of Nunavut.

Legislation and Standards
All capital projects are governed by legislation and approved standards established by the Government of Nunavut, and must conform to all the latest versions of codes, by-laws, and Authorities with Jurisdiction where applicable. All works shall comply with appropriate legislation and all amendments.