Tender not all swings and roundabouts

by Charlotte Choo

April 8, 2008

A CANNING councillor has criticised a council staffers' proposal to use Western Australian Local Government Association contracts for the installation of replacement play equipment, rather than inviting tenders to quote directly.

"We should open the tender to three or four other service providers for Consideration," Cr Graham Barry said. "This can conclusively prove that we are getting the best deal for the rate paid."

Under the WALGA contracting regime, the association calls several manufacturers for their best price and offers the results to city councils, which can choose to use them or not.

Cr Barry said the WALGA system was anticompetitive because it would, "set up a mini private organisation controlled by three or four major cartels".

The council plans to replace six sets of playground equipment that have rusted and are no longer safe. Edgeware, Ferndale, Cardoc, Killara, Ockham and Shelley parks are slated for upgrades.

The city's engineering department recommended the WALGA contracts so the council would not need to award every playground in any one tender to a single supplier. Avoiding the necessity of having to set up a series of separate tenders would save money, council engineers argued.

Cr Barry also slammed a staffers' recommendation to award the contract to Forpark Australia over Miracle Recreation Equipment. Each tenderer submitted two designs for each of the six parks. Officers recommended all six contracts be awarded to Forpark for $166,177, about $20,000 more than Miracle Recreation's bid.

"You get six parks going to one person, so what has changed?" Cr Barry said, referring to the WALGA contracts' purported ability to make tenders available to separate suppliers. "The additional $200,000 could go the cost of building another playground."

Cr Barry was set to raise his concerns at the council meeting on April 8. Canning mayor Michael Lekias declined to comment.