Canberra Liberals call for increased transparency in ACT Government procurement

Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Peter Cain, will move a motion in the Legislative Assembly today calling on the government to improve transparency and integrity on the awarding of public funds through procurement.

Mr Cain has advocated for a digital dashboard to be developed to track how contracts are given to consultants, contractors and third parties, ensuring procurement is transparent and accessible to the public.

“As revealed in Budget Estimates hearings, the Labor-Greens government wasted close to $78 million on the since-abandoned human resource and information management system (HRIMS), demonstrating a complete lack of probity and competence,” Mr Cain said.

“Through the seven years of the program’s development, at no point did the community nor the Assembly have oversight of HRIMS’ flawed implementation.

“News of the program’s failure came only through media reporting. This cannot be allowed to happen again.

“We need a single repository database that tracks tenders and contracts awarded by each individual agency, sorted by procurement packages.

“This should be open for businesses and the public to scrutinise.”

Mr Cain said he has heard from various small- to medium-sized local businesses that despite offering more competitive tenders – essentially a better product for less money – the Labor-Greens government continue to prioritise larger consultancy firms.

“The Auditor-General has released six scathing reports into dodgy procurement contracts and practices in this term of the Assembly alone.

“Improving transparency and reporting mechanisms is the first place to start in ensuring we achieve outcomes and restore community confidence in government.

“The Canberra Liberals have a plan to ensure procurement is effected with absolute integrity and for the ACT’s fiscal strategy to be rescued from a decade of decline under Chief Minister Barr,” Mr Cain concluded.