Australian Opposition demands AG review of National Broadband Network tender

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 07 May 2008 09:28

IT Industry - Tenders

Australia's shadow communications minister, Bruce Billson, has issued a damning indictment of the Government's National Broadband Network (NBN) RFP process and has called on the Commonwealth Auditor General to conduct "an urgent, full and thorough investigation".

Billson identifes the main issues as being: that crucial information about existing Telstra network infrastructure is not yet available to potential bidders; the restrictive 'gag order' on proponents; the requirement that proponents put up a $5 million bond to participate in the process. He is not alone: most of his concerns have already been raised by potential bidders.

Furthermore, Billson says that communications minister Stephen Conroy "has further compounded the vagueness of the project with a willingness to accept non-compliant bids which must further elevate the risk of litigation and Commonwealth financial loss...[and] the process is dangerously compressed and truncated, for no apparent reason other than to pursue self-imposed and unrealistic timeframes for a project of this scope, scale and complexity."

Billson claims that "Considerable concern has been expressed among potential bidders, commentators and others, including myself, that this process is deeply flawed, contradictory, anti-competitive, lacks transparency and is being driven by unrealistic deadlines."

He says that the gag order is "aimed at stopping [RFP respondents] from discussing the process in any way, shape or form without Government permission, regardless of the legitimacy or public interest in doing so" and says he has been advised that it is "not a common requirement in government procurements and could in fact be quite extraordinary for tendering outside Defence procurement."

He also suggests it could be in breach of the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines which state: "Any agency and its officials have the responsibility of ensuring that any procurement process is open and transparent." CONTINUED