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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2513 ..
MR STANHOPE (continuing):
At the time the Assembly considered my proposal to establish this committee, the Bruce redevelopment was an issue that was very much a major focus of our attention. It still is, of course, as we await the report of the Auditor-General. But the stadium redevelopment was not the only driving force behind the Assembly's decision to establish the committee. As the Minister for Urban Services said in the course of the debate, his department's register of contracts at the time reported current contracts with a total value of some $141 million, an indication of the key role ACT government purchasing plays in the local economy. That is also an indication of the importance of making sure that the processes involved in letting and managing those contracts is efficient, fair and open.
Mr Smyth said in the debate that 86 per cent of the contracts on the department's register were supplied from within the Canberra region-another indication of the importance of ACT government purchasing to the local economy. There was a great deal of interest from local businesses of all sizes in how the government undertakes it procurement.
My office would not be the only one that receives complaints from time to time from unsuccessful tenderers who feel the system has worked unfairly against them. The sheer volume of government purchasing demands that the process be efficient, fair and open and that it be perceived to be so. That demand was another driver behind the move to establish the committee.
The committee was already established when another important issue that related to its work emerged. On 4 November 1999 the coroner brought down his findings on the Canberra Hospital implosion inquest. A central theme of the coroner's report is the manner in which contracts to do with the implosion were let and managed.
The coroner noted that the Assembly had a committee that conducted a review of the tendering contract system of government authorities and agencies, and the coroner suggested that "so much of the advertisement, tender selection and expression of interest phase of the [implosion] project be revisited so as to invoke in the long term procedures that are more open to critical public scrutiny and accountability". The committee had already decided to include the hospital demolition as one of its case studies but had delayed advertising its intention until the coroner's findings were released.
Mr Speaker, the terms of reference of the committee were quite broad: to inquire into and report on the government's contracting and procurement processes. In meeting its terms of reference, the committee decided to focus on three aspects of the contracting process:
- the degree to which contracts entered into by the territory are open to public scrutiny;
- the fairness of the processes by which government agencies select and manage consultants and contractors; and
- the extent to which contracting offers value for money to local residents.
The committee believes that full public scrutiny is a benchmark for accountability. As I mentioned before, the committee believes governments have an obligation to ensure processes as fundamental as purchasing are undertaken in an efficient, fair and open
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