Lend Lease has been cleared of ripping off small Canberra builders who worked on the city's huge ASIO building.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But the federal Small Business Commissioner says it is "unfortunate" and "fundamentally wrong" that 180 small firms around the capital were either not paid or underpaid for work on the job, with many going out of business.
Commissioner Mark Brennan, in his report to Small Business Minister Bruce Billson, says that lessons need to be learnt from the "saga."
Mr Brennan's report is unlikely to be well received in sections of Canberra's building community, which are still seething over allegations that Lend Lease used its market power and financial muscle to force unfair and overly complex contracts on the smaller companies it hired to do much of the work at Campbell.
The project to build the domestic spy agency's new lakeside headquarters was plagued with delays and cost overruns. The price tag for the Ben Chifley Building blew out from a projected $460 million to more than $700 million.
Along the way were allegations that Chinese spies had hacked the building's blueprints, and seven months after the building's glitzy official opening it is still not fully
occupied. Glass windows were falling off the front of the building as recently as last month.
The job hit real trouble in October 2012 when 30-year-old local landscaping firm Urban Contractors called in administrators.
Payments to its subcontractors were thrown into chaos and started a domino effect through the local building industry.
Urban was eventually able to trade its way out of trouble.
Directors blamed Urban's problems on the complexity of contracts it had signed with Lend Lease.
But several of the subcontractors, including substantial earth moving company Tread Lightly, were not so lucky and went out of business.
But Mr Brennan found Lend Lease was not to blame for the knock-on effect that Urban's near collapse had on Canberra's building industry.
"The possession of market power of itself is not unlawful," Mr Brennan wrote.
"In fact, it would be impossible to undertake projects of this size and complexity without the participation of significantly powerful players in the construction industry.
"During our inquiries we were not made aware of specific instances of misuse of power imbalance between Lend Lease and Urban contractors."
Rather, the commissioner's advisers said that Urban did not have "the right people, skills or structures in place to adequately understand its contractual obligations or responsibilities or deal with these variations."
But the commissioner said a taxpayer-funded bailout was not the answer.
"While taxpayers should not have to effectively pay twice for this work, there is something fundamentally wrong with this scenario that leaves the smallest players to deliver and not get paid," Mr Brennan wrote.
"The impact that this saga has had on families and the people behind the 180 small businesses that were either not paid or underpaid is clearly unfortunate.
"It is important that measures are put in place to avoid this situation occurring in the future. "
Among his recommendations, the commissioner wants to see a more hands-on approach from government departments to their building contracts and better education for small companies that are working on big jobs.
He also wants explored the idea of construction trust accounts, to ensure that contracts are paid out.