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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 5 Hansard (3 May) . . Page.. 1483 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

meantime, the chief executive of the Chief Minister's Department will refer the matter to the interim Government Procurement Board for consideration as a matter of priority.

Recommendation 16 found that the advertisement of the Acton demolition project tender had been defective in some respects. An amendment to ACT Contracts procedure 3, entitled "Advertise and issue tender documents", has been completed to address this matter. However, these procedures apply only to ACT Contracts and Mr Sherman highlights the necessity to extend these procedures across government by means of a procurement guideline to be issued by the Government Procurement Board. The government accepts this recommendation and will also refer this matter to the Government Procurement Board through the interim Government Procurement Board. I note that the Government Procurement Bill is on the table of the Assembly for debate today.

Recommendation 20 sought the publication of the final determinations of the WorkCover review process. Mr Sherman expresses the view that a comprehensive report on the implementation of the WorkCover review should be published in the WorkCover newsletter. As stated in his report, Mr Sherman has been assured that this will occur by the Occupational Health and Safety Commissioner.

Mr Sherman also made comments regarding recommendation 1, which deals with single select tender processes. Although Mr Sherman indicated that this recommendation has been implemented, he recommends that all single select decisions, including those worth less than $50,000, should include a statement of reasons by the decision maker. He also recommended that reasons should be recorded for all contract decisions. The government agrees that reasons should be recorded for both the method and the outcome of contracting processes. This is a matter that will be referred to the interim Government Procurement Board in preparation for its being addressed by the Government Procurement Board once it is established.

Finally, Mr Sherman highlights a remaining challenge for the ACT government to ensure that the policies and procedures that have been developed apply across all relevant areas of the ACT administration. The major responsibility for ensuring that will fall with the Government Procurement Board. It is being addressed seriously. Mr Sherman emphasises that the procurement guidelines to be issued by the board must be observed not only by ministerial departments but also by statutory authorities and, where appropriate, by territory-owned corporations. The government agrees and, as I will now outline, has laid the foundations for a consistent and rigorous approach to procurement matters.

In his report, Mr Sherman noted that within the past 12 months there have been developments that have overtaken the coroner's recommendations. Mr Sherman is referring in particular to the report of the Legislative Assembly Select Committee on Government Contracting and Procurement Processes. That committee examined the tender processes and contracts relating to the demolition of the Royal Canberra Hospital as well as the Bruce Stadium redevelopment.

As a result of the committee's recommendations and associated government initiatives, there exists a more extensive regime to protect the integrity of tender and contract processes. Such reforms have resulted in the proposed establishment of the Government

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