The member requested that QAO audit the Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre (Wellcamp) project (including lease and operation costs) to determine:
- the complete cost of the project
- if the procurement methodology (direct sourcing) has delivered best value
- whether the government had acted in accordance with the Use and disclosure of confidentiality provisions in government contracts policy
- whether the recommendations in QAO’s report Confidentiality and disclosure of government contracts (Report 8: 2017–18) were implemented and applied to this project.
UPDATE – August 2022
On 3 August 2022, the member subsequently requested that our consideration of this matter be expanded to include:
- the level of detail provided by the proponent prior to the government committing to the facility
- whether specifications for use of the site as a quarantine facility (e.g. on-site medical centre) were part of the original contract
- whether appropriate delegations for contract execution and contract variations were in place and followed (noting the findings of Report 16: 2021–22)
- whether a rush to complete negotiations resulted in a poor outcome for taxpayers
- whether any other proponents put similar proposals to government, and
- whether the original contract gave the government the ability to release the costs, or were further concessions obtained from the proponent to secure their agreement for the release of contract costs.
UPDATE – February 2023
On 22 December 2022, the member requested an update on our investigation.
We responded to the member on 8 March 2022.
We advised the member that we are in the process of obtaining more information from the relevant government departments. This will include identifying the various costs, understanding the procurement process, and reviewing leases and other agreements including the use of confidentiality provisions.
We will consider further actions once we have obtained and assessed this information.
We will also assess, as part of our normal financial audit process, the appropriate accounting treatment and disclosure of these transactions in departmental financial statements.
UPDATE – August 2022
We responded to the member’s additional request on 17 August 2022. We advised him that several of the additional matters raised form part of our current assessment, for which information has already been provided by the relevant departments. In completing our assessment, we will consider whether we should expand our lines of inquiry to include any additional matters raised in the latest request.
UPDATE – February 2023
On 14 February 2023 we advised the member that our audit of the project is largely complete and that we are in the process of resolving some follow-up questions with the Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning.
Once we have resolved these questions, we will finalise our findings and draft our final report for consideration by management. We also advised the member that given the public interest in this audit we intend to prepare and table a report to parliament when it is complete.
Status
Complete. We have completed our audit of the project. We included the results of our audit in our report Queensland Regional Accommodation Centre (Wellcamp) (Report 18: 2022–23). This report was tabled in parliament on 30 June 2023.