CHAIR – Minister, regarding the new Consultant Services Panel for transport and civil infrastructure, is that a pool of money to be drawn down from to pay billable hours? How does it work? Is there a fixed division of cash that keeps consultants on permanent retainer?
Mr VINCENT – Thank you. I will refer that to the deputy secretary.
Ms HEYDON – Apologies, I don’t have that detail on hand. I’ll have to come with an answer in the session.
CHAIR – You will take that on notice?
Mr LIMKIN – Can we just clarify the question, Chair?
CHAIR – Regarding the new Consultant Services Panel for transport and civil infrastructure, is there a pool of money to be drawn from to pay billable hours, or how is that paid? Is there a permanent retainer?
Mr LIMKIN – Panels are used as predefined areas that we can pull from. If, for example, we have a piece of work, we can actually take that to the panel and ask them to quote on it. The panel provides us an option under a procurement framework to speed up procurement. We still have to go through the relevant procurement processes depending on the variety of panels. Some may be hourly rates; some may be fixed price. We may choose that depending on the project as well. Some panels give us both options to actually do it. There’s a set of predefined rates that we just lock in and we go to them with the project and go, ‘This is what we do ‑ how many hours?’ Or some panels give us the choice to go, ‘Here is the project we would like, please give a bid for that.’ We use both those options under the panels.
CHAIR – How does the department assure value for money in relation to that set-up?
Mr LIMKIN – Through you, minister. First of all, there is a value‑of‑money assessment when the panel is established, is my understanding, to make sure that when people get on the panel there is value for money. Then an assessment is made by the department under procurement delegation for each project depending on what way there is. There are really two checks on that value‑for‑money test.
CHAIR – Fascinating topic, isn’t it? We will move on.
Minister, back to the panel and potential hiring freezes. Has State Growth, particularly for transport and infrastructure projects, put consultants ahead of hiring experts? What is the impact of using consultants over actually filling permanent positions?
Mr VINCENT – I will ask the secretary to answer that.
Mr LIMKIN – We do not look at consultants and employees. We don’t say we won’t fill this employee and do a consultant – that’s not how our department works. We use a mixture of both consultants and our own staff to make sure we get the outcome and deliver it. Sometimes we use consultants because of workload for our own people, availability of resources, or if there’s a particular technical skill we want. How we look at it is not about that. I can say no decision I have made in relation to the workforce committee has been about prioritising consultants over our employees, because our employees do an amazing job every day of the week.
