Manteena chief tells ACT Integrity Commission he was informed that ministers affect contract decisions
That's the explanation the head of a construction company says he was given over a rejected bid to redevelop a canberra school. Manteena's tender for the Campbell primary school modernisation was unsuccessful but the ACT integrity commission has heard that decision wasn't supported by all government officials.
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TVTranscript
00:00 Public hearings into the Campbell Primary School modernisation have resumed.
00:07 Today it was the turn of Mantena Chief Executive Mark Bower.
00:11 His company outscored its competitor Lendlease on an initial evaluation,
00:16 but its bid for the project was ultimately unsuccessful.
00:20 The Commission was shown Mr Bower's notes of a debrief with a Directorate Official
00:25 known by the pseudonym John Green.
00:27 The notes reveal Mr Green said,
00:30 But prior to the decision about the school, Mantena had won the contract
00:40 for an expansion of the Canberra Hospital.
00:43 Mr Bower asked why Mantena was suitable for one but not the other.
00:48 According to the notes, Mr Green replied,
00:51 The Education Directorate had a different Minister.
00:54 The Ministers each do things differently and are influenced by different things.
00:59 The Commission has previously heard there was dissatisfaction
01:02 with Mantena's industrial relations record from the union
01:06 and from staff in the office of Education Minister Yvette Berry.
01:10 But when Mr Green took the stand last month, he conceded nobody in the Minister's office
01:15 directed him not to award Mantena the contract.
01:19 Mr Bower also told the Commission about a phone call he had with Kelly Young,
01:24 an official in Major Projects Canberra, after the decision was made.
01:29 He said she sounded uncomfortable and intimated that she thought it was the wrong decision.
01:35 The hearings are expected to continue tomorrow.
01:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]