14 November 2007
Emphasis added.
Dear Mr Aaronson
In response to your email dated 12th November, I advise as follows:
The Council is not required by legislation to seek the sale or lease of operational land by way of tenders but probity advice provided to the Council recommended this course of action. The Council resolved on 30 October 2007 to follow a tender (Expression Of Interest) process for the Springwood Town Centre Project and the report to that meeting outlined the process being used, together with the role and composition of the Tender Evaluation Panel.
Many of the issues that you raise are attributable to the requirements that need to be followed to adhere to the essential elements of a tender process from a probity and legislative perspective. The Tendering Policy of the Council outlines the process to be followed. This Policy complies with the Local Government Act and it requires strict confidentiality during the evaluation of tenders. Confidentiality during tender evaluation is a normal local government practice. The need for strict confidentiality during the evaluation of the Call for EOI has been made clear to the Councillors throughout the project and outlined at the public information session.
Councillors are not involved in the tender evaluation as they will make the final decisions on the tenders taking into account advice and recommendations from the Tender Evaluation Panel. To do otherwise could make the process open to perceptions of bias and potentially expose the process to legal challenge.
The tender process has two stages, with an initial Call for Expressions of Interest and then, subject to the content and quality of the proposals, the Council may resolve to invite selected proponents to provide more detailed proposals in stage 2: Request for Detailed Proposals. This is expected to occur by April 2008. The timetable for progression to stage 2 is yet to be determined. This is deliberate, as the extent of the need for public consultation on particular issues or proposals will not be known until after the receipt and evaluation of the submissions received in stage 1.
There could be a wide variety of proposals received as the Call extends over 3 different sites and allows for proposals for sale, lease or other agreements regarding the land.
Opportunities for community consultation will be available after the stage 1 evaluation process has been reported to the Council. The nature of the consultation undertaken will depend upon the content of the Expressions of Interest received. It is hoped that the Springwood Town Centre Advisory Committee would provide an important forum for discussion of the proposals and any guidelines for Stage 2 of the tender process from April 2008. However should the Council resolve to not continue to Stage 2 of the tender process, the role of the Advisory Committee may need to be re-evaluated.
In terms of your specific references below, I have included annotations in red font [see response with annotations]based on information provided to me by Ms Janne Yardy to more accurately reflect the conversation from Ms Yardy’s perspective. It is important that information on sensitive issues such as this be represented accurately and as has previously been suggested to you, this is best achieved by written communication rather than relying on interpretations of conversations.
The expressions of interest will be kept confidential. The tender evaluation report to the Council will contain only non confidential information from the expressions of interest.
Any commercial in confidence information from the expressions of interest would remain confidential to the Council and the submitter. A confidential attachment accompanying the evaluation report may be required to communicate confidential information to the Councillors. The Evaluation Report is expected to be included in the business papers for the March 2008 Council meeting. That meeting is expected to decide which, if any, of the submitters will be invited to prepare a detailed proposal.
Upon opening of the tenders the names of the submitters are made public.
The only people who will be allowed to see the expressions of interest during tender evaluation will be the Tender Evaluation Panel, related Council staff, and the Probity Auditor. The Tender Evaluation Panel is to include Council staff, a representative from the Department of Lands, and an independent industry expert. The make up and role of the tender evaluation panel was outlined in the Council report 30/10/07 as was the tender (procurement) process.
The expressions of interest will include a general description of the proposed use of the land, including what will happen to the community facilities on the land. The submitters are also asked to provide conceptual drawings, illustrating what they would like to do. Expressions of Interest will be kept confidential.
The submitters are asked to specify what parts of the report they consider confidential to their business. They have been told that Council reserves the right to use the remaining information for public consultation. But the entire expression of interest will be confidential. This is normal industry practice and is the procedure required by the Council's Tendering Policy. This is the current procedure that Council staff are carrying out. This is the tender process that the Council resolved to follow.
The Councillors are able to change this if they want to. Unless Councillors resolve to abandon the Call for Expressions of Interest, it is appropriate for the confidential procedures to remain.
In April 2008, some of the submitters might be invited to make detailed proposals. This is the 2 stage tender process adopted by the Council and invitations to proceed to stage 2 are to be made only by Council resolution .
These proposals will probably also be confidential. As it is a tender process all Stage 2 Requests for Detailed Proposals would be confidential, as with the EOIs. It is not clear what the public will be told of their contents, and when they will be told. Details of the second stage of the tender process, Request for Detailed Proposals have not yet been considered or adopted by the Council.
There is the opportunity for community consultation between the 2 stages of tender process.
Regards,
Phil Pinyon
GENERAL MANAGER