Labour ignored its own procurement rules in awarding a half a billion-dollar IT contract for Three Waters in an effort to save time, only to delay the project, National's Local Government spokesperson Simon Watts says.

“Buried in hundreds of documents released this week is confirmation that in deciding who would provide IT services for Three Waters, a contract which is budgeted to cost around $530 million, Cabinet chose not to run an open market procurement, as required by government procurement rules to ensure value for money.

“The only justification offered was the need to meet the self-imposed deadline for starting up the proposed and undemocratic mega-entities, which would have run Labour’s Three Waters’ plan.

“However, after Labour attempted to appease public uproar at the unpopular reforms, the deadline was dropped as part of the Three Waters reset, but by then the expensive IT contract was already in place.

“The business case made it clear to Ministers that the closed tender approach that was being followed was not compliant with government procurement rules, so Ministers knew exactly what they were doing.

“The procurement rules exist to protect the integrity of government contracts and ensure value for taxpayers' money. While the rules are less important for minor contracts, for major contracts providing complex services, they should be followed.

“Agreeing in haste to spend more than half a billion dollars while ignoring the rules is a slap in the face to taxpayers who have had to foot the bill for the failing Three Waters reform program every step of the way.

“National will end this once and for all by repealing Three Waters in our first 100 days in office.

“Under National’s plan, communities will decide how best to deliver water services with like-minded councils, avoiding the need for bloated bureaucracies like Labour’s mega-entities. Because communities and councils already back National’s plan, we won’t need to hide our dealings behind closed doors to avoid scrutiny like Labour has.”

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