CCF WA welcomes reforms to WA’s local government legislation that will improve transparency by requiring councils to publicly disclose how they assess tenders and why they have chosen a successful contractor.

CCF WA says the new legislation will increase transparency by ensuring councils explain how they assess tenders and why they have chosen a successful contractor.

CCF WA CEO Andy Graham said the civil construction industry applauded Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley for listening and acting on the concerns raised in a recent CCF WA report. 

“Our report showed the lack of procurement transparency allowed by WA's Local Government Act is way out of step with similar legislation in other states,” Mr Graham said.

“The current commercial-in-confidence provision in our legislation is so all-encompassing, it basically allows councils to suppress all internal assessments and discussions related to contracts awarded. 

“The new Act will strike a much better balance by allowing confidentiality where tenderers have shared commercially sensitive information, while ensuring councils can’t use the excuse of commercial-in-confidence to avoid any explanation of why they chose one tenderer over another.

“Happily there are some councils that already recognise the importance of transparency and accountability. Progressive LGAs such as Cockburn, Gosnells and Joondalup publish detailed information when awarding contracts, including prices bid, and explain how and why the successful bidder was chosen -- so for these councils the reforms will be business as usual.

"We look forward to all councils achieving a similar standard.

“For construction contractors, the increased transparency will provide invaluable insights. Contractors understand they’re not going to win every tender, but what really frustrates them is when they lose but have no idea why, because the council claims that information is confidential.

“It’s hard to see how greater transparency is anything but a good thing, not just for contractors who want to know how they fared in the assessment process, but also for ratepayers seeking to understand how their rates are being spent.”

Background to the Local Government Act procurement reforms

Section 5.23 (2)(c) of the Local Government Act 1995 currently allows local government authorities to close council meetings to the public for any discussions and decisions related to “a contract entered into, or which may be entered into, by the local government”. This effectively allows councils to withhold all information related to contract awards, typically in confidential attachments to council minutes.

Section 5.23 (2)(c) will be replaced by a new commercial-in-confidence provision – 5.23 (4)(c) – which will specify that councils can only withhold “information contained in a tender received by the local government for a contract to the extent that the information is a tendered price, or a tendered methodology for calculating a price”.

The Minister for Local Government’s office has advised that work is underway to progress the implementation of the new Section 5.23.