Legislative Council
E.D.S. CONTRACT
The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: I refer to Audit Overview Part A.3, page 58. In a section titled `A case in pointóthe EDS contract', the Auditor-General makes some points about the EDS outsourcing deal. He highlights important areas where he saysóand I presume this was as of the end of September when he signed off on this reportóthat:
Principal key matters that have not been finally resolved relate to:
He then goes on to say that:
Other key contract matters that have not reached a satisfactory stage of finalisation have been the subject of comment in my reports over the last few years. As at the time of writing this continues to be the case. These matters include:
There is some concern that, considering this contract has been operational now for a couple years, these matters, which appear fairly fundamental to the efficiency of the whole operation and the real cost to government, have not been resolved. The Auditor-General also made an observation on page 59 in relation to the EDS contract, saying that there was:
. . . a `gap' in the accountability of Executive Government, particularly where the contractor is responsible for the discharge of governmental functions and the amount of public money payable under the contract is material.
Will the Government develop criteria as recommended by the report to identify contracts
of public interest? Will the Government inform the Parliament each year in the annual
report of the responsible agency on matters of performance with agreed contract service
levels? Can the Treasurer give us some indication as to when the key matters indicated
will be resolved, if they have not been since September? When will we see a final
resolution in relation to service level agreements, procedure manuals and the management
manual?
The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: It will not surprise the honour-able member
that I will need to take some advice from the appropriate Minister. The EDS contract is
not my direct ministerial responsibility. I am aware, not through any direct involvement,
that resolution of those questions in relation to final assumed costs, etc. in that
section of the report is, we hope, imminent.
The Hon. R.D. Lawson: It is.
The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: My colleague the Hon. Robert Lawson indicates
that it is. I agree with the honourable member that these are important issues that the
Auditor-General has raised. It is fair comment to report that, some period after the
resolution of the contract, there are some issues which still are unresolved in relation
to the contract detail. I will certainly speak to the Ministers currently responsible for
the contract and have a reply brought back to the honourable member. In relation to the
other more detailed questions on agency service level agreements, agency procedure
manuals, etc., as the honourable member might know, I think we both served on the same
select committee there were varying degrees of compliance with those particular
provisions. I am not sure how widespread the Auditor-General's criticism is of this,
whether it is widespread or just an isolated procedure manual or two that has caused grief
The Hon. M.J. Elliott: There have been a lot of complaints about
the service level agreements.
The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: If the honourable member has some detail on
that I am sure that the responsible Minister would be pleased to receive it and to
investigate it. In relation to the issues about service level agreements, the
Auditor-General is talking about not having reached a satisfactory stage of finalisation.
I am not sure whether the complaints that the honourable member is talking about relate to
the finalisation or to the level of the service provided within the agreement. It might
have been finalised, and they might just disagree with it.
The Hon. M.J. Elliott: In any case, you do not know the size of
them, which is even stranger.
The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: If the honourable member is prepared to
provide detail to the Minister responsible, can I ask, on behalf of the responsible
Minister, the honourable member to provide me with detail of the particular issues and I
will be pleased to take up those issues with the Minister responsible. The Auditor-General
does raise a number of other issues in detail in the report which, again, the responsible
Minister will need to address. In terms of the broader issue in relation to informing the
Parliament and that brief one paragraph under the heading `Informing the Parliament',
which I understand is the quote the honourable member has taken, I would need to discuss
that matter not only with the responsible Ministers but with the Attorney-General, who has
taken some close interest in this issue over the past 12 months or so. I am sure that
between us we will manage to bring back some form of considered Government response.