An Education Directorate official said he was led to believe he had to override advice about a preferred tender by the head of the directorate as she expected the "desired outcome" of the minister's office to be achieved, an integrity investigation has heard.
The official told the commission he took this as a "direction" to pursue a process which would ultimately result in the government choosing a more expensive tender to build an expansion of Campbell Primary School.
The official, whose identity was suppressed, said he was given the impression he needed to write a brief to override advice from a second evaluation team which recommended the government choose construction company, Manteena, to build the expansion.
The ACT Integrity Commission, which held a second day of public hearings on Friday, also heard details of a conversation between the education directorate official and Education Minister Yvette Berry's former chief of staff about the tender process.
The official made the decision to go back and reassess two tenders from Manteena and Lendlease for an expansion of Campbell Primary School after it was conveyed to him that Manteena was not to receive the tender.
This was despite the company offering a price more than $800,000 lower and achieving a higher overall ranking from a tender evaluation team within government.
'Desired outcome'
The official, who was given the pseudonym John Green, alleged he was told by Education Directorate director-general Katy Haire that Ms Berry's office told her Manteena was not to be awarded the contract.
Mr Green said Ms Haire told him she was told she would be the final decision-maker in the awarding of the contract. This conversation allegedly happened just days after Ms Haire had returned from leave.
"Mr Haire let me know ... in her words, 'I was summoned to the minister's office to talk about the Campbell tender and they've got a view that Manteena is not to get the job'," Mr Green said.
Mr Green said he informed the director-general he was starting a new process to evaluate the tenders on a "best and final offer" basis.
"Then her words were ... 'I've been told I will be the final decision-maker on this process' but certainly I got the message from her that she was going to be the final decision-maker on this process," he said.
"It was not long after Katy got back. I can't recall the exact dates but I think it was one of the first days that she came back to the office after her leave. I think it reflects it was possibly an important thing for the minister's office that they had this conversation with her early on in the process.
"It confirmed to me that what she wanted was for me to achieve the desired outcome of the minister's office to head down a process ... where the minister's objective could be achieved."
In a later conversation, Mr Green alleged he was told by Ms Berry's former chief of staff, Josh Ceramidas, to ensure the project was not given to Manteena due to the industrial relations concerns.
"His comment was, 'Let's not make it another project where the government just chooses the cheapest bidder'," Mr Green told the commission.
Counsel assisting the commission, Callan O'Neill, made the comment this was similar to one made by former CFMEU secretary Jason O'Mara. Mr Green said he had already drawn this link prior to this conversation.
The commission is investigating whether alleged union interference played a role in the awarding of the contract. The commission on Thursday heard Mr Green had a meeting in February 2020 with Mr O'Mara, who said Manteena should not receive the contract.
The commission also heard CFMEU had written to Manteena in early 2020 about starting a bargaining process for staff at the company.
Best and final offer
The commission heard Mr Green was under pressure from industry groups to make a decision on two school building projects as private work had dried up during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Master Builders Association chief executive Michael Hopkins had texted Mr Green regarding when a decision on the Campbell Primary School tender would be made.
Major Projects Canberra director-general at the time, Duncan Edghill, expressed the view that the preferred tenderer should be identified and the directorate work with them to bring down the costs.
However, Mr Green said he wanted to continue with a best and final offer round where both contractors would be asked to resubmit a tender, even though this would take longer.
The decision to proceed with a best and final offer process meant the chair of the original tender evaluation team did not want to continue as she felt they had already done their job in selecting a preferred tenderer.
This led to a new tender evaluation team being stood up for the best and final offer process, two members of which were Mr Green's subordinates, Dylan Blom and Pal Patel.
Mr Green said he spoke to both Mr Blom and Mr Patel about the Education Minister's office's desire for Manteena to not get the Campbell job as they were re-evaluating the tenders.
"I was sharing with my team the political environment," Mr Green said.
"I deeply regret doing that. I should not have said anything at all in that process.
"Mr Green said in his mind there was not a conflict of interest with the tenderers."
Officials thought they were justified in pursuing a new process as both Lendlease and Manteena's initial offers were much higher than the budget.
Second evaluation of tenders
The new team during the "best and final offer" process came to the same conclusion that Manteena was the preferred tenderer.
Under the new process, the budget for the project was $15.5 million. Manteena put forward a proposal for $15.1 million and Lendlease's proposal was around $15.9 million.
Not only was Manteena's offer less but the tender evaluation team and the school's principal preferred Manteena's design as it was a larger design.
Manteena provided 20 per cent more learning area but Lendlease would need $2 million extra "to match the areas provided by Manteena".
Mr Green had a meeting with Mr Haire in the days after receiving this report, when he told her of the outcome Mr Green alleged she said something along the lines of: "that's not what the minister's office wants".
He then said the director-general asked if there were other options and how could this be pursued. Mr Green said they would be required to make a recommendation and said he could write her a brief.
"I think I mentioned it was an unusual approach," he said.
"The take away I took from that meeting that she wasn't going to agree with the Manteena recommendation as presented by the tender evaluation team and I needed to write her a brief to do something else."
Ms Berry is expected to give evidence to the commission at a later date. So are Ms Haire, Mr O'Mara and CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith.
Hearings are expected to resume on September 6.
