I wonder why Council have a non-disclosure policy with respect to the release of tender information.

Try this

Council award Georgiou Pty Ltd the Abraham Street Bridge tender at $8,172,298.06 plus GST = $8,989,527.87.

I wrote the CEO requesting a list of tenderers and the tendered amount to be informed that I couldn’t have the information – Confidential. State Government and other organisations including other regional councils make tender information available as a matter of openness and transparency (some Councils actually record the information in their minutes of the subsequent meeting).

So I went through the Freedom of Information (F.O.I.) process. Took a month but I was finally supplied with the following information.

So the tender that was awarded by the CEO was $1.5M dearer than the lowest tendered amount – any wonder it’s a Council policy to not be open and transparent.

2 issues stand out

The Council tendering and contract awarding process is a shambles and needs overhauling.
All tender results should be open and transparent so that ratepayers (who pay the bills) can see how their dollars are being spent.

Ratepayers – your opportunity to have your say is coming up.

Council nominations close 10 September 2015 and the elections are on 17 October 2015.

I suggest you scrutinise Councillor and Mayoral candidates thoroughly.

Max Correy