Posted on 13-04-2010 at 01:30
Bid and Tender Writers
Bids and Tenders are costly
THE state government allowed Sydney Ferries to continue to operate harbour services despite a tender process finding the quality of its bid to remain in public hands scored just 56 points out of 100 - and that it was inferior to two other private sector bids.
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The Herald has confirmed that a market-testing process undertaken by the government showed that Veolia and TransDev TSL both bid lower than the $670 million Sydney Ferries came up with. Veolia's bid, the Herald understands, was in the vicinity of $580 million over seven years.
The Herald understands TransDev, and possibly Veolia, scored higher in their quality evaluations than Sydney Ferries.
It follows controversy over the government's sale of NSW Lotteries, which the Herald revealed was won by Tatts Group despite it not being the highest bidder.
The former premier Nathan Rees ordered the market testing after his predecessor Morris Iemma indicated a willingness to sell the ferry operations.
On December 22, just 18 days after taking office as Premier, Kristina Keneally announced that Sydney Ferries would be staying in public hands in what was widely seen as a sop to the Maritime Union of Australia.
At the time Ms Keneally said there was ''overwhelming'' public preference for them to stay in public hands. Neither TransDev TSL nor Veolia have been given any feedback as to their bids, and did not discover they had been unsuccessful until the day of the government's press conference on December 22.
The Transport Minister, David Campbell, announced quietly in a statement yesterday that Sydney Ferries had arrived at a negotiated outcome to run the ferry service over seven years for ''$589.3 million or $619.3 million when including the $30 million for replacement ferries'' announced in the transport blueprint. Mr Campbell said the Sydney Ferries bid had originally been worth $668-$670 million and had scored 56 out of 100 in quality evaluation.
But sources told the Herald both private sector bids were superior to the Sydney Ferries bid and were also constrained by the fact that under the tender rules they could not suggest industrial relations improvements. A spokesman for Mr Campbell did not deny yesterday that the private sector bids were superior.
''The evaluation results are commercial in confidence, as per the terms of the market testing,'' he said.
''Overall, the government is confident that taking into account the individual merits of each bid, the significant improvements made by Sydney Ferries, as well as considering public opinion, the best decision for the community was to retain ferry services in public hands.''
The opposition's transport spokeswoman, Gladys Berejiklian, said: ''This is essentially what the minister and Premier are confirming, that they don't care about improving services and they're happy to give into the union rather than what's in the best interests of the community.''
Ms Berejiklian pointed to the government's transport blueprint which predicted a fall in ferry patronage over the next decade as a sign the government did not care about the service. She challenged the government to release details of the private sector bids.
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More information on our bid services
The Herald has confirmed that a market-testing process undertaken by the government showed that Veolia and TransDev TSL both bid lower than the $670 million Sydney Ferries came up with. Veolia's bid, the Herald understands, was in the vicinity of $580 million over seven years.
The Herald understands TransDev, and possibly Veolia, scored higher in their quality evaluations than Sydney Ferries.
It follows controversy over the government's sale of NSW Lotteries, which the Herald revealed was won by Tatts Group despite it not being the highest bidder.
The former premier Nathan Rees ordered the market testing after his predecessor Morris Iemma indicated a willingness to sell the ferry operations.
On December 22, just 18 days after taking office as Premier, Kristina Keneally announced that Sydney Ferries would be staying in public hands in what was widely seen as a sop to the Maritime Union of Australia.
At the time Ms Keneally said there was ''overwhelming'' public preference for them to stay in public hands. Neither TransDev TSL nor Veolia have been given any feedback as to their bids, and did not discover they had been unsuccessful until the day of the government's press conference on December 22.
The Transport Minister, David Campbell, announced quietly in a statement yesterday that Sydney Ferries had arrived at a negotiated outcome to run the ferry service over seven years for ''$589.3 million or $619.3 million when including the $30 million for replacement ferries'' announced in the transport blueprint. Mr Campbell said the Sydney Ferries bid had originally been worth $668-$670 million and had scored 56 out of 100 in quality evaluation.
But sources told the Herald both private sector bids were superior to the Sydney Ferries bid and were also constrained by the fact that under the tender rules they could not suggest industrial relations improvements. A spokesman for Mr Campbell did not deny yesterday that the private sector bids were superior.
''The evaluation results are commercial in confidence, as per the terms of the market testing,'' he said.
''Overall, the government is confident that taking into account the individual merits of each bid, the significant improvements made by Sydney Ferries, as well as considering public opinion, the best decision for the community was to retain ferry services in public hands.''
The opposition's transport spokeswoman, Gladys Berejiklian, said: ''This is essentially what the minister and Premier are confirming, that they don't care about improving services and they're happy to give into the union rather than what's in the best interests of the community.''
Ms Berejiklian pointed to the government's transport blueprint which predicted a fall in ferry patronage over the next decade as a sign the government did not care about the service. She challenged the government to release details of the private sector bids.
Read original
