Loss of chance
With the New South Wales state election now less than 12 months away, CCF is well into negotiations with both the Government and the Conservative Coalition over main policy objectives we would like from the next government.
One major concession we are working on, follows from the recent practice which saw the three consortiums which tendered for the now abandoned Sydney Metro, have their costs reimbursed.
CCF has long argued that the loss of chance should be a consideration when local, state and federal governments discontinue with a project after tenders have closed.
Whether this is because of bad planning, inability to find funding or a blow out in costs, the Federation has argued that the high cost in complying and producing tenders has produced a significant imposition on members.
The precedent set by the Keneally government, has been welcomed by our industry. However suggestions that the reimbursements will not be passed down to sub contractors, has quite rightly received some adverse media attention. The government should explain why we have such segregation, and why large consortiums are catered for, whilst smaller sub contractors are ignored.
Size of contracts
One of the main reasons the NSW Government is now faced with a $300m bill to reimburse the Metro tenders, is because the size of the project was well beyond the reach of so many contractors.
Despite assuring our industry that the project would be dissected into smaller contracts, the Sydney Metro Authority had broken the project into three $1.5bn jobs, which saw only three consortiums in a realistic position to bid for the work.
The Federation now has another example of mismanagement and evidence of why contract sizes need to be considered very carefully.
RailCorp/Failcorp?
The recent death of a contractor working on a Sydney railway station, has brought the matter of workplace safety into the public domain once again. Whilst the coronial enquiry is underway it would be inappropriate for CCF to make a specific comment on this particular situation. However, the fact that CCF members have written to Railcorp identifying other potential safety breaches, only to have those concerns ignored, makes one wonder if the safety culture at Railcorp needs to be reviewed.
IR and contract law conference
Following on from the success of the various CCF seminars held last year, the Federation will be hosting a two-day industrial relations and contract law conference on June 17/18 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Norwest. We have secured a number of leaders of the legal fraternity and look forward to welcoming members from around the country. Please register early with Sarah Clarke on 02 9009 4000 to avoid disappointment.
