The Victorian government has denied claims it ran a flawed tender process before awarding a $1.7 billion contract to US-based Conduent to upgrade the state’s public transport ticketing system.
Transport Minister Ben Carroll on Tuesday said the process was extremely thorough and that claims of unfairness brought by one of the losing bidders, Cubic, are baseless.
“This has been an incredibly thorough tender process,” Mr Carroll told a budget estimates hearing.
“I understand that different companies when they aren’t selected and they haven’t been awarded the contract may be upset.”
The government last month selected Conduent as the new operator for the troubled myki system over the next 15 years.
The new system would allow commuters to travel using bank cards and mobile phones instead of a myki card.
Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed he recently received a letter from Cubic complaining about alleged errors within the tender process.
He said he has no advice that the tender process should be investigated in light of the complaints, which include that government officials were still in talks with Conduent after Cubic made its final bid submission.
“Politicians don’t sit down and evaluate the bids,” Mr Daniels told reporters on Tuesday.
“I’ve got no advice to suggest that there’s any issues with this process. Indeed, quite the contrary.”
Mr Andrews is confident Conduent’s bid represents the best value for money and would not be drawn on whether the New Jersey-based outfit would be able to deliver a modernised system.
Mr Carroll said Conduent had a proven track record of operating a successful system in 24 countries.
“I’ve seen it, I’ve used it, I’ve experienced it,” he said.
“I’m very confident about the diligence and procurement process that the Department of Transport and Planning ran.”
– AAP
