National Capital Authority Under Procurement Scrutiny

Open data, Procurement / By /

National Capital Authority Under Procurement Scrutiny

June 9, 2022
Open data, Procurement

The National Capital Authority (NCA) was established in 1989 under the Australian Capital Territory (Planning and Land Management) Act 1988 (PALM Act) following the introduction of self-government to the Australian Capital Territory.

The authority’s mission is ‘to shape Canberra as a capital that all Australians can be proud of by ensuring it is well planned, managed and promoted, consistent with its enduring national significance.’

Procurement is a core business of the NCA. It had been more than 13 years since the last NCA performance audit, so the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) recently completed a review, with the objective of examining whether the NCA’s procurement activities are complying with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPR’s) and demonstrating the achievement of value for money.

Its findings were concerning. The ANAO report found:

  1. NCA’s insufficient use of open and competitive procurement processes, non-compliance with the CPRs, and poor transparency and record-keeping meant it could not demonstrate value for money across its procurement activities.
  2. The NCA makes insufficient use of open and competitive procurement processes. Where open tenders were conducted, it was common for request documentation to limit the extent of effective competition. Where suppliers were directly approached, the pool of potential tenderers was often limited to those previously engaged by the NCA or described by the NCA as being known to the NCA or its advisers. With respect to the assessment processes undertaken, just over half of the contracts were awarded to the candidate where documentation demonstrated that it offered the best value for money. The conduct of procurements was also not to a consistent ethical standard.
  3. ****Procurement decision-making has not been sufficiently accountable and transparent. Approval had been obtained by an appropriate delegate in most of the contracts examined. It was common for there to be gaps in the records of the planning and conduct of procurements. The NCA’s reporting of contracts and amendments on AusTender was largely non-compliant with the requirements under the CPRs.

To contextualise this report, note that in 2019–20 and 2020–21, there were 327 contracts with a total value of $69.9 million reported by the NCA on the AusTender website.

The ANAO report lists the following support material to their findings:

  1. The majority (64 percent) of procurement valued above the $80,000 threshold in the CPRs undertaken by the NCA in 2019–20 and 2020–21 did not involve open competitive approaches. In comparison, other non-corporate Commonwealth entities are much more likely to report using competitive procurement approaches. (See paragraphs 2.3 to 2.26)
  2. ****For just over half of the procurement examined by the ANAO, appropriate written records were made of the justification for using limited tender processes and how value for money was achieved. (See paragraphs 2.30 to 2.32)
  3. For 60 percent of the contracts examined in detail, it was evident that relevant evaluation criteria were included in request documentation. For the remaining 40 percent, either the request documentation did not include any evaluation criteria or there were no records of the request documentation on file. (See paragraphs 2.54 to 2.57)
  4. With respect to the assessment processes undertaken, just over half of the contracts examined in detail by the ANAO were awarded to the candidate where documentation demonstrated that it offered the best value for money. In the remaining 45 percent of contracts where value for money outcomes had not been demonstrated, this was primarily the result of insufficient analysis being presented commensurate with the scale of the procurement or the result of poor record-keeping practices. Of note was that the essential requirements and/or evaluation criteria applied during the evaluation process were not consistent with the approach to the market in 88 percent of contracts examined (where sufficient documentation was maintained). (See paragraphs 2.60 to 2.68).

Transparency is not a difficult thing to achieve, but it does require a fundamental organisational commitment to it. As advocates for procurement transparency, we hope this ANAO report will encourage a shift towards greater transparency of process, across all government departments.

Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss our government procurement data, our research and development capabilities, or how we can assist with your data needs.

Because you read this article, you may be interested in UK Left Waiting On Transparency

Photo by Harry Burk

May 30, 2023

Space To Innovate- New UK Gov Opportunity

The UK Government's, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Space Systems Programme has announced it is seeking proposals to aid UK Defence...
Read more...
May 25, 2023

EU Commission Move To Electronic Procurement

The European Commissions Directorate Generate for Informatics (DIGIT), has launched a new dynamic purchasing system for software licences and associated services (SIDE...
Read more...
May 22, 2023

Biosecure Procurement Trial

The UK Government yesterday announced new measures for domestic tree seed production and biosecurity procurement requirements. The next round of the Domestic...
Read more...
May 18, 2023

New Industry Body White Paper Review of Covid Procurement

Since early on in the pandemic, there has been significant focus on the procurement of Covid related PPE, due to unprecedented nature...
Read more...
May 11, 2023

EU Council Joint Procurement Under European Peace Facility

The European Union Council has adopted an assistance measure worth €1 billion under the European Peace Facility (EPF) that will further contribute...
Read more...
May 10, 2023

Measuring Sustainable Public Procurement

One of the projects we are most proud of is working with The Open Contracting Partnership to create a Sustainable Public Procurement...
Read more...
May 3, 2023

From Hero to Zero – UK Digital Marketplace Shuttered

Within living memory, the UK’s Crown Commercial Service (CCS) had planned to reshape a large swathe of public procurement in the image...
Read more...
May 2, 2023

We Sell Data, Not Seats.

Why we sell data not seats? We're data analysts. We really understand the data we gather. We've been doing it for 15...
Read more...
May 2, 2023

New Tech Disrupts Traditional Government Procurement

A Silicon Valley startup, GLASS, has created a revolutionary new tech, Glass Commerce, an e-commerce marketplace enabling compliant transactions between government buyers...
Read more...
April 25, 2023

Green Public Procurement: New Report

At Spend Network, we are always on the look out for governments, think tanks, research bodies, and other organisations who are working...
Read more...
April 25, 2023

EU Agrees on Anti-Coercion Instrument

The European Commission and European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade have agreed on an anti-coercion instrument (ACI) which will enable public procurement...
Read more...
April 13, 2023

£256 Million Contract for Cyprus Awarded by UK Government

The UK Ministry of Defence  has awarded a £256 million contract, for work, repairs, servicing, and facilities management for the UK defence...
Read more...
April 5, 2023

Endorsements For Export Agencies

Endorsements are a win-win for export agencies. Exporters face new challenges, both in terms of increased barriers to trade following the pandemic,...
Read more...
April 4, 2023

Looking For Reasons To Export to Government?

If you are looking to grow exports, you should start with the largest and most transparent industry in the world, and here...
Read more...
April 5, 2023

Lockheed Martin Selected As Preferred Bidder.

US defence giant Lockheed Martin has won a contract to deliver Australia’s first sovereign-controlled military satellite communication constellation. Lockheed Martin was recently announced...
Read more...

Newsletter

Compelling research, insights and data directly into your inbox.

Recent media stories

Search

Recent articles