The Australian Furniture Association AFA is disappointed to learn that the federal welfare department has paid more than half of the total amount of money spent on office furniture across all government agencies.
According to a report from the Australian National Audit Office, Services Australia’s office furniture procurements are not value for money, with the agency spending $180 million on furniture.
The Australian government spent an estimated $355 million on office furniture in the five years between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2022.
The audit report said that Services Australia entered into 990 contracts in the same period, “which accounted for 51 per cent of total spend across government”.
‘At this critical time, where supporting Australian businesses must be a focus for all government agencies, the audit office found the department “often approached one supplier, despite internal guidance to approach multiple suppliers” and did not compare prices when doing so,’ states AFA CEO, Patrizia Torelli.
These decisions limited opportunities for competitive pricing which made it difficult for the agency to demonstrate value for money in its spending.
“Officials at Services Australia did not fully follow internal processes to manage conflicts of interest and did not manage incumbency advantages in the procurements sampled,” the report said.
‘The AFA supports the auditor’s three recommendations for the agency to improve its processes for planning procurement arrangements and demonstrating how value for money can be achieved,’ says Ms Torelli. ‘In addition the AFA’s lead in developing strong ‘stewardship’ programs for the procurement of furniture and fit outs will add impetus to the introduction of a bill to parliament which will put a new value of “stewardship” into the Australian Public Service list of values.
The values already include: committed to service, ethical, respectful, accountable, and impartial.
Source *aap-newswire