The National Capital Authority's "manifest and repeated breaches" of procurement rules do not constitute serious impropriety, but the agency should still report on reforms to contracting, a joint parliamentary inquiry has found.
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The authority responsible for planning in the parliamentary triangle was lashed for "insufficient" procurement practices, which failed to show value for money, in a June 2022 audit report.
The audit office reported its practices lacked transparency, appropriate record-keeping and competitiveness.
In a subsequent report, tabled in parliament on Wednesday morning, the joint committee of public accounts and audit recommended the NCA provide an update on the reforms it had implemented since.
The committee, chaired by Labor MP Julian Hill, further criticised the authority for its poor track record despite procurement forming one of its core business requirements.
![National Capital Authority chief executive officer Sally Barnes (left) and Labor MP Julian Hill (right). Pictures by Keegan Carroll National Capital Authority chief executive officer Sally Barnes (left) and Labor MP Julian Hill (right). Pictures by Keegan Carroll](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/143258707/57752dff-82ea-4921-92a3-6ea97bc715c1.png/r0_0_1200_675_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"An agency with such longstanding procurement and contracting requirements and for whom procurement is a core business requirement, should demonstrate a far better track record than that found by the ANAO," the report reads.
The agency's update on procurement should include statistics and analysis on its use of competitive procurement methods and how they have changed, changes to its management of probity and promotion of ethical and fair procurement and changes to its record-keeping practices and procedures.
No evidence of 'serious impropriety'
The audit office found just 23 per cent of the authority's 2019-20 and 2020-21 contracts, valued at more than $80,000, went through an open tender process, where all potential suppliers are invited to apply.
This compared with an average of 63 per cent across other non-corporate Commonwealth entities.
The authority was also shown to have adopted an an interpretation of "construction services" to "encompass goods or services not explicitly covered by the definition".
For construction services, procurement valued at more than $7.5 million must go to open tender, while generally that threshold is $80,000.
Poor record keeping also meant the NCA could not show value for money on many of the contracts it entered.
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In a public hearing in December, the agency's chief executive officer admitted to "sloppy" processes.
"It is the doing and the busyness I think that has led us to be sloppy, and not good at record management, and not good at actually making sure we dot i's and cross t's," Sally Barnes said.
The public accounts and audit committee report outlined these findings, noting there was no evidence that they "constitute serious impropriety".
"The committee notes the evidence that despite the manifest and repeated breaches of the [Commonwealth Procurement Rules] including ethical lapses that no evidence was identified that these constitute serious impropriety.
"The committee acknowledges that the NCA's primary deficiency is a failure to adequately document its management of probity rather than persistent and seriously egregious breaches of the ethical requirements laid down by the [Commonwealth Procurement Rules] and PGPA Act."
The report also noted that the NCA had indicated it is making "changes to its procurement practices and procedures, and that it intends its procurement culture to be one of compliance with the [Commonwealth Procurement Rules] going forward."
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