Auditor-general’s report criticises AusNet tender process
Updated
Photo: The ABC was awarded the Australia Network contract on a permanent basis last year. (Australia Network)The Commonwealth Auditor-General has highlighted a series of flaws in the Federal Government’s handling of the tender for the Australia Network contract.
The auditor’s report has found that while the government was entitled to hand the lucrative Australia Network tender process to the ABC, the decision “has presented the Australian Government in a poor light and cost the two tenderers time and money.”
Sky TV and the ABC both tendered for the multi-million dollar international broadcasting contract.
But the process was eventually scrapped and the Government handed the contract to the ABC, saying it was not in the public interest for the process to continue.
The Auditor-General’s report into the affair was tabled this morning.
It highlights the delays in the process and finds that key ministers did not hold a common view on the approval process.
It says the manner and circumstances in which the high profile tender was conducted brought into question the Government’s ability to deliver such a sensitive process fairly and effectively.
The Government has confirmed it has agreed to pay Sky compensation for the costs it incurred tendering for the contract before the process was scrapped.