ACT government procurement to be subject to tighter oversight for high-risk projects

A procurement support program is also being piloted at territory government agencies, including the Canberra Institute of Technology which has come under fire after awarding more than $8.5 million of contracts to companies owned by a "complexity and systems thinker".

Special Minister of State Chris Steel said the government has agreed to all recommendations from a report into procurement from the Auditor-General.

The report found the government's procurement board was compromised by a lack of clarity around its primary role.

It found the board was not efficient in fulfilling its functions and it should be focused on reviewing more higher-risk proposals.

In response, the government will increase the threshold to $7 million for procurements that will need to be referred to the board. It is currently $5 million for directorates and $1 million for other government agencies.

But the government has also developed other criteria to determine whether a procurement is high risk. This would include whether the requirements of a tender are standard or if it is unique, risks of anti-competitive behaviour and whether there is a reputational risk for the entity.

The government will also amend the Procurement Act to set out the board's purpose and outline the objectives of the board. These objectives include to review and make recommendations on procurements and review whole-of-government procurement practices.

The chair of the procurement board will also be from outside of the territory government, Mr Steel has announced.

"The Auditor-General's report was a comprehensive investigation of the board's activities," Mr Steel said.

"The government welcomes this audit and the work the Auditor-General has done to identify where improvements can be made."

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The report examined more than 400 proposals over a five-year period and a series of contracts awarded by CIT to companies owned by Patrick Hollingworth were a key case study in the report.

The audit found the board was "insufficiently sceptical and probing" about the contracts and the board was "compromised by the omission of important information by the proponent".

Mr Steel told the Legislative Assembly an accreditation program had been established to ensure directorates and agencies were supported to make "good procurement decisions".

He said this program was being piloted at CIT and the Transport and City Services directorate.

"The accreditation program provides a robust evaluation process that is supported by an independent governance body to review each territory entity's capacity and capability to manage its procurements," Mr Steel said.

"It is aligned with the scale, scope and risk of the procurement to ensure that high-risk and high-value procurements are provided with additional centralised support."

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