Secret report from NT Housing Department now released

A SCATHING report that NT Housing Department chief executive Jamie Chalker tried to hide last week has been released, revealing procurement process failures and breaches of policy that no staffer is being held responsible for

A town camp in the Northern Territory.

A SCATHING report that NT Housing Department chief executive Jamie Chalker tried to hide last week has been released, revealing procurement process failures and breaches of policy that no staffer is being held responsible for.

The probity report was called into the department’s awarding of the Alice Springs town camps management contract to Zodiac Business Services in late 2015. It shows numerous failures throughout the process including department staffers withholding information to independent advisers, assessment panel members mysteriously appointed, uninvestigated allegations of bias and no tender assessment plan.

Former housing minister Bess Price took a job with Zodiac shortly after losing her seat last year. The company was awarded millions of dollars worth of contracts over two years but none of the other contracts were reviewed.

Owner Melissa Young did not comment on the report’s release when contacted by the NT News yesterday.

The probity report shows the department’s first assessment panel for the town camps contract found that then-provider Central Australia Affordable Housing Company was the “preferred tenderer with capacity and past performance of delivering the works ...”.

But, despite initially giving it the highest score on the “value for money” weighting, it later concluded that it was “not value for money”.

The panel then gave Zodiac the highest value for money score. The probity report stated that was a breach of proper process. “The initial assessment panel did not comply with the procurement directions in that they did not recommend CAAHC be awarded the tender ...” it stated.

Unusual pricing was discovered when Zodiac’s bid was nearly $300,000 less than the $1 million tender estimate and CAAHC’s was $1 million over. Staff did nothing to clarify the discrepancy, the report stated.

The probity report also found a member of the initial assessment panel had a bias complaint lodged against them by CAAHC. The panel and the independent probity adviser at the time were not made aware of the bias allegation, which should have seen that member removed under conflict of interest rules.

The department later established a new assessment panel with two of the previous panel members. That was questioned in the report.

“It is our opinion that the objectivity of these two individuals was impaired as they were fully aware of the deliberations and recommendations of the first tender assessment panel,” it said. The second panel changed the scores with no explanation. The report also found Zodiac was awarded the contract for indigenous town camps without an indigenous employment strategy.

In a media release, Mr Chalker said he “has accepted the recommendations of the audit in full.” The probity report stated it was not conducted in accordance with auditing standards and it could not “detect irregularities, including fraud”. Ms Price did not return calls yesterday.