The ACT Integrity Commission will hold public examinations in relation to Operation Kingfisher, an investigation into whether public officials within the ACT Education Directorate failed to exercise their official functions honestly and/or impartially when making recommendations and decisions regarding the Campbell Primary School Modernisation Project between 2019 and 2020.
The public examinations will be held on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 August. Later dates are under discussion with prospective witnesses and their legal advisers.
The ACT Government announced in 2018/19 that it would spend $18.8 million to modernise Campbell Primary School, built in 1961. Out of six firms that expressed interest, two were invited to submit tenders: Lendlease Building and Manteena Commercial. Lendlease was awarded the contract for services in September 2020, and construction work began in January 2021.
The Auditor-General’s report, published in 2021, found that the delegate for the procurement, the Acting Executive Group Manager, Business Services Division (Education Directorate), did not deal with tenderers “fairly, impartially, and consistently”. The delegate re-weighted and re-prioritised the evaluation criteria, and placed unfair pressure on Manteena to acquire its design for less than its value.
“The decision to hold an examination in public requires the careful consideration of several factors before I can determine it is in the public interest to do so,” the Integrity Commissioner, the Hon. Michael F. Adams KC, said.
“Following consideration of those factors, and the submissions provided by the proposed witnesses, I have determined that holding these examinations is in the public interest and that the public examination can be held without unreasonably infringing a person’s human rights.
“The seriousness of the allegations in Operation Kingfisher must be noted as the investigation relates to concerns that the system for dealing with procurement in the Territory has been undermined by inappropriate conduct at senior levels. It is an important part of the role of the Commission to investigate and expose these issues.”
The Commissioner also noted that being called as a witness to provide evidence to an examination is not indicative that an adverse finding will be made by the Commission against that person. Rather, it means that the person has been called as a witness as they have information relevant to the Commission’s investigation.
The Commission will release its findings and any recommendations arising from Operation Kingfisher in due course.
Members of the public are not able to attend the public examinations and may watch proceedings via a live stream that will be available on the Commission’s website: integrity.act.gov.au.
