Foreword
This is a summary of the Board of the Integrity Commission's report of an own motion investigation commenced on 30 April 2018. The matter relates to allegations that a manager in the Department of Education ('the Department') improperly awarded contracts for the production of digital education resources to companies associated with his friend.
The investigation followed an earlier complaint to the Commission in September 2017, which was not investigated given the Department had commenced proceedings against the manager under Employment Direction No 5 ('ED 5') for a similar complaint In April 2018, representatives of the Department sought the Commission's assistance to progress the matter, given they were experiencing difficulty in doing so.
The Commission subsequently investigated the complaint to determine the factual basis for any misconduct, as defined in the Integrity Commission Act 2009 (the IC Act).
A report of the investigation was prepared by a Commission investigator and submitted to the Board in accordance with s 57(1) of the IC Act. The investigator made findings of fact on the basis of the evidence obtained during the investigation. The investigation addressed the main allegations of misconduct as identified in the complaint, and also considered any additional issues that were identified during the investigation.
The Board considered the investigator's report and determined to refer the complaint and the investigation report to the Secretary of the Department, for action. The Board then finalised this summary of the report, that it considered suitable for tabling in both Houses of Parliament
In presenting the summary, it is noted that the products resulting from the contracts are acknowledged to be of a high quality, meet their intended purpose very well, and are of benefit to the State.
For this summary, the Board has not reproduced all the detailed evidence outlined in the investigator's report, upon which it relied in coming to its conclusions. It has also anonymised or redacted that report, where the Board considered that it was in the public interest to do so. The principal factors which the Board had regard to in determining the format of this report are:
- the manager is not a senior officer and thus is not a designated public officer under the IC Act;
- the private individuals involved are not subject to the IC Act;
- the manager has resigned from his position in the State Service; and
- the potential privacy and health implications for the public officers and private individuals involved.
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