The NSW Ombudsman has made findings of wrong conduct against the former Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) when it procured the services of a contractor to act in a vacant senior executive role for a period of around 11 months.
In his Report, Investigation into the procurement of an acting executive director at the former NSW Department of Planning and Environment, Ombudsman Paul Miller said DPE acted unreasonably by treating the initial contract (and an extension a few months later) as ‘emergency procurements’, and that it had acted contrary to law by not notifying them to the NSW Procurement Board.
Mr Miller said his Report raised potentially broader systemic issues for the Public Sector regarding the use of both contingent labour and other contractors to effectively fill employment roles, especially senior management roles.
“Recruitment to such roles usually requires a competitive, merit-based process,” he said.
“The holders of such roles are also normally delegated Agency functions, including to make HR and financial decisions.
“However, contractors cannot be delegated those functions.”
Mr Miller said the Public Service Commissioner had agreed to consider these issues and whether further action was required, including whether enhanced guidance was required about if and when it was appropriate for contractors to ‘act in’ senior Public Sector roles.
The Ombudsman made four recommendations to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE), which took over the functions of DPE in 2019, to retrospectively report the emergency procurement of the contractor to the NSW Procurement Board; provide the Ombudsman with a copy of its updated procurement guidelines when they were complete; provide the Ombudsman with a copy of the internal audit that it conducted of procurement; and advise the Ombudsman of the steps it intended to take to address any issues identified in that internal audit.
The Ombudsman’s 34-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
