Procurement practices were 'sloppy', National Capital Authority CEO Sally Barnes says in audit hearing

In June, the Australian National Audit Office found the planning authority's contract procurement processes failed to show value for money through a series of shortfalls.

Its processes had been "insufficient"; lacking transparency, appropriate record-keeping and competitiveness, the authority's first audit in 13 years revealed.

Chairing a hearing on the National Capital Authority's response to the findings of the audit, Labor MP Julian Hill inquired how it had fallen so short on procurement.

"Given you have been around since 1913 and you're a procurement outfit, it's a little concerning that you seem to have just figured out that you're not very good at procurement, given it seems to be your core business," he told the authority's chief executive Sally Barnes.

Ms Barnes responded the organisation was largely made up of "doers", people with expertise in architecture, planning, design and education, and had in the past had "very small corporate areas because we wanted to put most of the resources into the doing".

"It is the doing and the busyness I think that has led us to be sloppy, and not good at record management, and not good at actually making sure we dot I's and cross T's," Ms Barnes said.

The creation of a new role, director of procurement and commercial operations, was intended to address this gap and serve as an internal procurement advisor to project managers, she said.

The agency had also introduced internal audits on large projects, such as the Commonwealth Avenue bridge works, and spot checks.

Ms Barnes said the executive team were also working to correct a culture founded on the sentiment "we've always done it like that", to adhere to procurement standards.

"It sounds a little bit like before these changes it was an episode of Utopia," Mr Hill remarked, referencing the hit comedy about a fictional government agency plagued by red tape.

"I certainly don't want to watch it and think that reminds me of a certain organisation," Ms Barnes said of the impending season of the show.

The agency's chief executive was also pulled up for claiming it was "a very frugal organisation" that doesn't "splash money around".

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"The difficulty I suppose I've got with that is it's a claim, it's a little bit 'Because I said so', which is what a parent says to a child," Mr Hill responded.

The Labor MP drilled down on a finding from the report showing in 12 instances in which an external probity adviser was appointed, only one had sufficient records maintained documenting what they actually did, and confirming that probity had been maintained during procurement.

"So in 11 out of 12, that you might have reasonably expected from a property advisor was simply not provided as a service to the organisation. Is that a reasonable conclusion?" Mr Hill queried.

Ms Barnes agreed, and confirmed the advisors had been paid in full.

Mr Hill took issue with the agency's failure to demand their money back in this instance, mentioning he had previously raised it two months prior at the National Capital Committee.

"I was trying to be kind by giving it to you two months in advance, hoping you might have a better answer," he said.

The agency hadn't had a chance to do the work to assess whether services had been properly delivered, Ms Barnes said, "but we should".

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