The Auditor-General has been unable to report to Parliament on an audit of a $2.2 billion contract entered by the Department of Defence for the supply of 1,100 Hawkei light military vehicles and 1,058 trailers.
In his report, Army’s Protected Mobility Vehicle – Light, Auditor-General, Grant Hehir said he was issued with a certificate from the Attorney-General who determined that “disclosure of certain information would be contrary to the public interest”.
“This project was selected for audit because of the materiality of the procurement, the adoption of a sole-source procurement strategy, the time taken to select a vehicle, and the risk involved in manufacturing a relatively small run of vehicles when the United States was beginning a similar but much larger program,” Mr Hehir said.
“The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness and value for money of Defence’s acquisition of light protected vehicles.”
“As the certificate amounts to a limitation on the scope of my audit … I am unable to table a report in the Parliament that contains a clear expression of my conclusion.”
He said he could make no decision on whether the Department of Defence’s acquisition of the vehicles achieved value for money.
Mr Hehir was able to report that Defence had advised the Government that the vehicle of its choice would be approximately 23 per cent more expensive than a similar vehicle but it would be more capable.
“Without robust benchmarking of cost and capability, Defence was also unable to apply competitive pressure in its negotiations with (its supplier).”
“The project remains within the government-approved and contracted budget and scope, but reliability issues have led to schedule delays,” he said.
The Auditor-General’s 92-page report can be accessed at this PS News link and the audit team was Dr Patrick N. O’Neill, Dr Jordan Bastoni, Sophie Gan, Zak Brighton-Knight and David Brunoro.
