New ticketing system tender

Executive summary
6 New Ticketing System Tender
government and the community, how it was managing the real and perceived conflicts
that arose in the tender.
In interactive tenders, the risks of inappropriate information flows are particularly high.
In the case of the NTS tender, most communications were controlled according to the
tender procedures. However, audit identified a number of instances where
communications did not comply with the controls and protocols.
During the initial offer stage of the tender, the Authority removed the requirement in its
probity plan for the Probity Auditor to attend all meetings with tenderers, including
overseas site visits and workshops. The requirement was replaced with attendance
‘as required’. No guidance was put before the senior management or the Board
as to how this discretionary attendance was to be implemented. Such guidance
would have strengthened probity oversight of the tender.
Audit identified only two instances of email miscommunication during the NTS tender,
which is insignificant in view of the high level of email communication during the
tender. In addition, there was an incident in which a significant number of Authority
documents, and one NTS tenderer document not seen by the Authority, came into the
possession of a journalist. Audit investigated the alleged leak and found that the
Authority’s internal controls had limited access to the leaked documents to
seven staff. Audit found no evidence that these staff members provided the
documents to anyone outside the Authority.
1.3 Recommendations
Part 3: Governance and planning arrangements for the NTS tender
3.1 To achieve clarity and consistency in the application of procurement guidelines
for major tenders, the coverage of the DTF and VGPB procurement guidelines
should be expanded to cover non-departmental public entities’ major tenders in
the same way that Departments are covered. ‘Major tenders’ should be defined
as those with a value greater than $100 million or where a risk assessment
indicates the tender is of a unique nature or is not ‘business as usual.’
3.2 To provide greater assurance about the integrity of major tender processes, the
guidelines should specify that, where major project procurement is to be
undertaken by a special-purpose public entity, the size of the entity’s Board
should reflect the scale and complexity of the project, and that to have at least
three to four members on the Board, and at least one external member on the
Board’s audit committee, is good practice. The guidelines should encourage
agencies to make greater use of audit committees in the governance of major
tenders.
3.3 To keep up with new developments in tendering, DTF should review biennially
the applicable guidance materials for major tenders, including those materials
relating to the governance and planning of major tenders.