Government Services Minister Bill Shorten has called for further investigation into several government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars over potential conflicts of interest.
Mr Shorten ordered the investigation on the back of allegations published in Nine Newspapers that former cabinet minister Stuart Robert intervened to help friends negotiate a lucrative Centrelink contract.
The allegations do not constitute any illegal conduct and Mr Robert has repeatedly rejected the accusations.
The review looked at Services Australia and National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) contracts from 2015 to the present. It found 19 procurements with an approximate value of $374 million had inconsistencies with standards and good practice.
Retired public servant Ian Watt completed the review for the government.
"Dr Watt's report reveals that in a range of these contracts, perceived conflicts of interest were simply not disclosed," Mr Shorten said.
"More needs to be done to find out what was the basis of the allocation for $374 million worth of taxpayer money under the previous government. Why weren't the basic standards met? It is completely unacceptable."
In a statement, a spokesman for Mr Robert said the review looked at procurement processes at Services Australia and the NDIA, not ministerial involvement.
"This is because there wasn't any," the spokesman said.
"Mr Robert has not been contacted by Services Australia, the NDIA or any person conducting any review. Mr Robert has not received or been asked to provide input to any report prepared for either agency."
Last year, Nine newspapers reported that consulting firm Synergy 360, whose shareholders are close friends of Mr Robert, claimed in leaked emails that the then-NDIS minister had allegedly met with them several times over a multi-million-dollar Centrelink contract, which was ultimately won by a client of the firm.
The files detail how a Synergy360 consultant allegedly provided repeated access to Mr Robert for one of the company's clients, Infosys, which Mr Robert announced in 2019 had won a multi-million-dollar open tender to deliver welfare calculation technology to Centrelink.
His report stated that a task force had "assessed whether internal agency procurement and contracting processes related to matters raised in the media regarding Synergy 360 and associated entities were consistent with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs) and good practice, where applicable".
The review found 71 per cent of the 95 procurements were consistent with CPRs and broadly demonstrated good practice.
Nineteen procurements were flagged for further investigation due to inconsistencies with CPRs or good practice. Of those:
- Seven of the 19 lacked the appropriate documentation and/or records
- 12 of the 19 had insufficient value for money justifications
- Nine of 14 Services Australia procurements featured delays in reporting contracts and amendments on AusTender within 42 days of entering into or amending a contract
"Many procurements lacked appropriate conflict of interest documentation in accessible records. Further, a small number of procurements had poorly managed actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest," the report stated.
"While the task force found some procurements had poorly managed conflicts of interest, or questionable judgements about the choice of procurement method and repeated use of limited or sole sourcing, the task force did not find clear misconduct within the 95 procurement processes."
Mr Shorten said Mr Robert had questions to answer because the bulk of procurements had occurred on his watch. But Mr Robert accused Mr Shorten of "trying to play politics".
Mr Shorten said the government would now consider its response to the report.
"The report has revealed far lower standards than are acceptable according to public service procurement practices across hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts of taxpayer money," he said.
