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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 9 Hansard (22 August) . . Page.. 3143 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

Should a contract be cancelled? Mr Berry, in his motion, alluded to the fact that it might result in a re-tender. The cost to the department would be the person hours involved, which are four to five people working for approximately six to eight hours each in the preparation of the contract documentation, the cost of advertising and the ongoing cost involved in dealing with inquiries from prospective tenderers. Other costs include the inconvenience to the 16 or so people or organisations who have expressed interest, and who are no doubt either putting in tenders, or who may well have done so to date.

If the contract were to be amended, this would involve many more person hours to rework the documentation, readvertise the call for tenders and, indeed, produce the work to be done by the tenderers themselves.

Ms Tucker also seems to have problems with the department calling on expertise from outside to set up health and fitness assessment programs. However, she also wants us to go through long and involved working party exercises with key stakeholder groups. Her idea of a working party will mean, in the long run, input from a number of people. We may actually not be able to get agreement. This is a specialised area for which you need expertise. What if we cannot actually get agreement on certain things? What happens to the process then? I will tell you what: it is the kids who miss out.

There has already been input from a lot of people after many months of meetings. Calling for tenders from professionals in the field who are best able to provide the assessment program is certainly a very sensible way to go.

We are already getting input. We are gaining advice: we are tapping into the expertise of a wide range of people. What will happen if we agree to Ms Tucker's motion is effectively a much more expensive process, with unnecessary delays that I think could mean we get nowhere in the end. I just do not think that is a suitable situation.

The specifications for the tender call for input from professionals in the field. The document lists a number of items, and Ms Tucker has read out some. However, what it requires a contractor to do is identify specific health and fitness categories to be measured that are appropriate for primary school students, design a program that will effectively measure the health and fitness levels of primary school students in these categories, and provide written reports to schools and other nominated people on the results of the assessment program, including analysis of the results and suggested programs that will address areas of concern.

I must say that there already has been some work done on this in both our school system, and the independent system, too, through some fitness people. I am particularly keen on the programs that can help our schools develop better ways of ensuring the health and fitness of our students, and that is one of the great benefits, I think, of this development.

I am advised that there are a number of prospective tenderers who currently run health and fitness assessment programs in the ACT. The health and fitness categories, which can be measured, vary widely between these organisations. The tender requires the contractor to design an appropriate program for primary school students.

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