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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 12 Hansard (24 November) . . Page.. 3553 ..
MR STANHOPE (continuing):
That is the coroner's definition of negotiation not at arms length. The intrusion of the Chief Minister's office into this critical tender process is even more worrying, given the coroner's remarks about how the contract was awarded to City and Country Demolition, a company that had submitted a bid he found was non-conforming. The coroner said evidence to the inquest illustrated that:
... if proper checking of not only City and Country Demolition, but also Controlled Blasting Services, had occurred, Mr McCracken never would have been given permission to do this job. Mr Loizeaux summarised the failure to make any objective checks in this case as a "lack of diligence" which extended from City and Country Demolition through to the ACT.
Later the coroner refers to evidence that the relevant officials:
... maintained the position that despite the lack of detailed discussion about the variation in tender prices, despite the pre-signed approval letter and expenditure form, despite the lack of documentation ... and despite having very little knowledge of the identity or experience of the implosion expert ... the review meeting of 11th of April was not just a formality. This is contrary to the evidence.
The coroner said:
The approval meeting on the 11th of April was a rubber stamp meeting -
another rubber stamp meeting -
at which the failure properly to address those issues resulted in the meeting accepting the lowest priced tender for the preferred option of implosion. The exclusion of Delta -
another company -
for the Stage 4 bid raises many unanswered questions.
The coroner went on to conclude:
The handling of the tender selection process was nothing less than appalling.
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