The territory's Auditor-General should receive more funding so it can complete more performance audits, a Legislative Assembly inquiry has concluded.
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The ACT government should also develop a long-term debt management strategy, taking into account the cost of servicing debt in the future, and publish it annually.
Major infrastructure projects should also have up-to-date timelines published online to improve "accountability and transparency" for the public.
Scope 3 greenhouse emissions, which include indirect carbon emissions tied to the manufacturing of products and building construction material, should also be considered as part of government decision making as a priority.
The Legislative Assembly's standing public accounts committee released its findings from the inquiry into the 2020-21 government annual and financial reports on Wednesday.
The committee made nine recommendations in areas including government financial management, infrastructure and utility pricing.
The committee recommended a long-term debt strategy be published each year, along with a regular release of the Standard & Poor's credit rating of the ACT.
"The committee is of the view that [the] ACT government should develop and publish a debt management strategy, incorporating future debt servicing costs, including beyond the forward estimates," the report said.
Icon Water should make more detailed data on water supply reliability public, including information about its target for unplanned interruptions, the committee found.
"As the annual report does not provide detail on the numbers, causes, locations, or distributed length of unplanned interruptions, interruption trends cannot be analysed beyond their averaged duration," the report said.
"The committee is of the view that providing more detail would increase accountability and identify problem areas."
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The committee also noted public servants would sometimes need to select different firms than had been recommended by a tender evaluation process in government procurement decisions.
The issue has been highlighted in a recent audit of a primary school upgrade project. The Integrity Commissioner, Michael Adams QC, in October said there were likely systemic issues with government procurement.
The public accounts committee said "delegates must be upwardly accountable for their use of this discretion" when choosing firms not recommended by evaluation processes.
The committee, which is also considering the Auditor-General's findings about the primary school upgrade, said it did not want to pre-empt findings of that inquiry.
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