How much the ACT government paid on contractors in the 2022-23 year

The money spent on contractors account for nearly one-fifth of the territory's total expenses last financial year.

An analysis of the territory's expenses show the territory's largest expenses were on infrastructure projects including an expansion of the Canberra Hospital and light rail.

The territory's largest expenses were for infrastructure projects, with more than $260 million in receipts paid to construction company Multiplex for the Canberra Hospital expansion. The total project is expected to cost more than $600 million.

The territory government spent an estimated nearly $8 billion in the 2022-23 year, the ACT budget showed.

That figure is expected to increase to $9 billion in the 2026-27 year with a separate analysis of contracts showing the territory committed to another $1.16 billion last year.

The top 10 largest contracts include infrastructure projects, the purchase of new buses and of new properties.

The largest contract signed in the 2022-23 financial year was $172 million for the design and construction of the John Gorton Bridge project. This project is jointly-funded with the federal government. The contract is with BMD construction.

The government will also spend more than $83 million on 90 new electric buses from Yutong, which is a Chinese manufacturer of commercial vehicles. This was the second highest contract.

There was also a contract worth $73 million with an IT consultancy firm, Dialog Information Technology, to deliver a digital platform for the ACT Teacher Quality Institute.

Transport Canberra and City Services entered into the highest amount of contracts at more than $420 million. This was followed by the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate at nearly $200 million, Major Projects Canberra at $160 million and the Suburban Land Agency at $89 million.

The Canberra Institute of Technology only entered into $1.9 million of contracts, which is far less than the $4.99 million contract it entered into with a company owned by "complexity and systems thinker" Patrick Hollingworth in March 2022.

The $1.4 billion spend from last year was revealed in an answer to a question on notice following recent budget estimates.

Special Minister of State Chris Steel said, in the response, this was based on data collected from the main finance system for the territory.

"A total of $1.41 billion in payments were made to suppliers against codes that represent procurement categories," Mr Steel said.

"This amount excludes expenditure not captured by the main financial system, such as credit card transactions.

"The government's procurement frameworks are robust with multiple layers of legislative and internal guidance materials to support value for money assessments and decisions."

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The question was asked by assistant shadow treasurer Peter Cain who also asked whether Mr Steel felt procured services were procured at the best value for money.

Procurement processes in the ACT have come under scrutiny recently.

A report from the Auditor-General found the government's procurement board was "not optimally effective", was compromised by a lack of clarity around its primary role and was not efficiently fulfilling its functions.

The government also abandoned a human resources upgrade that cost $76 million after a review found it was "deficient" from the start. Following this, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said change was needed to the way large procurement projects were managed.

The Integrity Commission is also investigating the tender process for an expansion of Campbell Primary School.

Integrity commissioner Michael Adams KC said serious allegations raised in the investigation related to concerns that systems dealing with procurement had been "undermined by inappropriate conduct at senior levels".

The federal government's contracts with the big four consulting firms have also come under scrutiny recently following a tax breach scandal.

The ACT government also entered into 19 contracts worth $9.5 million with the big four consulting firms: Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

EY had the highest contract at $5.7 million and this was for consultancy on the Canberra Hospital master plan and its business case. There were another two contracts with the firm bringing the total amount awarded to $5.9 million.

There were nine contracts with Deloitte worth a total of $2.3 million, two contracts with PwC worth a total of $743,000 and five contracts with KPMG worth a total of $618,000.

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