Letting of Contracts at Central TAFE Public Hearing AM session

20/42/glj
I think you also had the benefit of being with a government
department that had developed procurement procedures to a
fairly high level?---Correct.
I think was that the Department of Justice?---Yes, that's
right.
They were quite advanced in their procedures and in their
development of forms and systems for procurement?---Very
much so.
That was before you came to Central TAFE?---Yes, that's
correct.
Without using elaborate language and just keeping it short,
can you tell us what was the difference between what you
saw at Department of Justice, where procurement was at a
fairly high level, and what you observed at Central TAFE
when you first arrived? Was there a difference firstly?
---It was polarised: opposite ends of the scale.
So if Department of Justice was good, and I think you
thought it was good - is that right?---Yes.
What about Central TAFE's procurement procedures?---One
word: appalling.
Now, around about what date was it that you were making
that assessment? What time?---August.
August of?---02.
02, right. Now, I think one of the reasons that you were
brought in was to try and improve the procurement
procedures. Is that correct?---That's correct.
Not just you but others as well. Is that so?---The
position that I applied for would have had a number of
duties that had to be maintained on a daily basis, weekly
basis, whatever. It wasn't just to fix up, it was to do
the work at the coalface and other - and other duties. The
problem is there was no-one at the college who had a real
clear understanding of what was required and the extent of
what was required, and it took a lot of campaigning by
myself to get policies, procedures, up-to-date forms,
templates in place et cetera, et cetera.
Were those changes embraced? Embraced willingly?---Weren't
embraced willingly. I - I was labelled as a procurement
Nazi by the college in general because of the stance that I
took on ensuring that processes were followed.
Did the process improve over time or not?---It did. By the
time I left we'd had a review of our branch, which I pushed
pretty much on my own; had a independent consultant come in
and look at the branch structure. We put in place more
4/10/06 NICHOLSON, B.J. XN 212
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