GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS —
HUAWEI
858. Hon TJORN SIBMA to the minister representing the
Minister for Transport:
I refer to the advice referred to by
the minister yesterday about the public release of the Public Transport
Authority's tender evaluation report.
(1) What specific
advice concerning the release of the tender evaluation report was provided by
those named below —
(a) the PTA's chief financial
officer;
(b) the project's independent
probity adviser; and
(c) the Department of Finance?
(2) Will the
minister table the advice submitted by each of the aforementioned; and, if not,
why not?
(3) In relation to the minister's answer to
part (2) of yesterday's question, from whom was the advice provided
that the tender evaluation report is confidential, and what specific aspects
are considered confidential?
(4) Will the
minister also table the advice to which part (3) of the question refers; and,
if not, why not?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1)–(4) The
terms of the Public Transport Authority's conditions and information
for responding and the early contractor involvement agreement for the radio
replacement project state that the PTA will treat expression of interest
submissions to the invitations as confidential, and undertakes to keep
confidential any information provided by the respondent in responding to the
invitation unless disclosure of any part of it is required by law. The
respondent must treat this invitation, its submission and any additional
information obtained from PTA or submitted by the respondent as confidential;
refrain from divulging any confidential information to any person not involved
with the preparation of the EOI submission; and ensure that any person
receiving confidential information is similarly bound.
The advice from the PTA's
chief financial officer and the project's independent probity adviser
confirmed that the evaluation report for the project contains confidential
information about the respondents and, as identified in the PTA's terms
and conditions, should be kept confidential. As stated in the response to the
honourable member's previous question without notice, the minister has
requested the PTA to seek the State Solicitor's advice regarding both
the tender evaluation report and the contract.