Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

While there is clearly a need to enhance project management expertise, there is no reasonwhy this expertise should not, at least in part, be developed and grown within the ACTPSover time.Related to calls for better project management by the ACTPS from industry groups, andwhile it was recognised that the Government’s capital works budget has escalateddramatically in the past few years, there were consistent calls in consultations with industryfor better management of the procurement schedule to smooth out sizeable peaks and troughs.The Review notes an Industry Reference Group has been established to improvecommunication with industry participants involved in delivery of capital works and landrelease projects which has recently completed a discussion paper on issues involved inproject delivery. The issues identified in the paper include:• poor quality of project documentation;• poor project planning during the design phase;• major changes required to tendered works prior to start of construction;• tenders called too early;• inappropriate risk allocation in tenders; and• reliance on quality assurance.The discussion paper suggests improvements to deal with these issues. Following discussionat a roundtable convened by the Chief Minister, the Industry Reference Group will focus onimplementation of the suggested improvements and recommendations.Another common issue of concern in consultations was the funding model for ProcurementSolutions. One contributor to the Review noted:In the abstract, a central body responsible for consistency in purchases and making the mostof the limited resources that the city has appears a sensible policy. Sadly in practice, though,the outcome has not reflected this goal. Instead the agency charges its “clients” (otherGovernment departments and agencies that are forced to use procurement solutions) a fixedpercentage of the value of the works without really adding any significant value or service. Inmany cases the relevant Government department and agencies would be better off themselvesco-ordinating the relevant procurements and overseeing their own projects.… Forcing ACT agencies to use the Government’s monopoly procurement service has inlarge part been responsible for the Government’s traditional poor record in delivering itsambitious capital works programs announced annually in each budget.The Review notes the Assembly Standing Committee on Public Accounts recently tabled thereport of its Inquiry into ACT Government Procurement, 193 which the Government willrespond to in due course.193 Seehttp://www.parliament.act.gov.au/downloads/reports/PAC13%20ACT%20Gov%20Procurement.pdfAdministrative Arrangements Changes: 136