NSW Tendering corrupt

Tender troubles: Corruption systemic in NSW government's procurement process

15 July 2011 | by David Wheeldon

A report from the NSW corruption watchdog based on a survey of suppliers to the public sector has found corruption is rife within the NSW government's procurement process.
According to reports by Australian Associated Press (AAP), favouritism, leaking confidential information during the tendering process and the offer of bribes to government employees are all suspected.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) yesterday released the survey results which found that corruption was "systemic" across all tiers of government.

One report, ‘Corruption risks in NSW government procurement: Suppliers' perceptions of corruption’, found 41 per cent of suppliers considered corruption a problem. And 55 per cent indicated that improper favouritism was occurring.

"Each year, approximately 12 per cent of complaints received by the ICAC include allegations of corruption in NSW government procurement, and approximately 30 per cent of our public inquiries make findings of corrupt conduct related to NSW government procurement activities," the report states.

A supplier was quoted in the report: "Certain tenderers seem to know the emphasis of specifications, possibly due to their relationship with contractors assisting to draw up specs rather than with government employees.
"Certain tenderers place a lot of emphasis on taking people to the cricket, etc."
However, ICAC noted that favouritism in some cases was arguably taking place for good reasons, such as wanting to reduce risk by dealing with a known quantity, or for non-corrupt but questionable reasons, such as wanting to reduce workload.

"Regardless of its drivers, however, favouritism discourages non-favoured suppliers from bidding."
A second report: ‘Corruption risks in NSW government procurement: Recommendations to government’, found NSW's procurement process was complex, confusing and inconsistent across state and local government.

According to AAP, the ICAC recommended a complete review of the government's procurement process and a move to centralise the development of its procurement policy, as well as create a centralised complaint and investigation and process to review suspected breaches.