Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the politics around unsolicited proposals to government makes it "virtually impossible" to pursue anything "innovative".
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While being grilled by an ACT Legislative Assembly committee over Aquis' multi-million dollar bid to redevelop the Canberra Casino precinct, Mr Barr said the ACT government had recently refined the way it assessed unsolicited proposals.
Mr Barr said he often received pitches over LinkedIn, although rarely responded.
But he had a stern warning for anyone looking to get around the government's usual procurement processes by pitching straight to the politicians - save your time and money.
"My advice to any proponent would be it's not worth pursuing unless you have a particularly unique proposition, where you bring something that no one else can and so I think people should save a lot of time and money and think very carefully about whether they bring forward unsolicited proposals," Mr Barr said.
"A government procurement framework is such that we are necessarily limited in how we will undertake procurement and when an unsolicited proposal contains exclusive negotiating rights over a piece of land that's publicly owned, the chances of success are close to zero."
Mr Barr said it would "always be virtually impossible for government" to run with "anything that is innovative or that falls outside of a government initiated procurement process", but that there needed to be a channel to allow it.
"Otherwise you completely stifle any innovation," Mr Barr said.
Of the hundreds of unsolicited proposals the government receives every year, only a handful ever make it through to cabinet, Mr Barr said.
He said most sought to buy land directly outside the normal tender or auction process.
"Most of the proposals that are received by government and have been over an extended period do not offer anything unique, just simply seek to jump over a competitive land release process," Mr Barr said.
"That is the problem and that is why on reflection while I think it's important we have a framework in order to deal with the small number I do want to send a very clear signal that the framework is not a way to seek to bypass land release processes."
He also said many were "variants" on outcomes the government was already seeking, lke the Manuka Oval redevelopment.
"In that context there was nothing particularly unique about the proposal," Mr Barr said.
Mr Barr said earlier in the year that any redevelopment of the oval should be government driven, after controversy scuttled Grocon's $800 million bid to redevelop the oval last year.
