Another Ormsby inquiry

The Herald reports:

A third government agency is reviewing the process by which it engaged a consultancy wholly owned by Gannin Ormsby, the husband of Government minister Nanaia Mahuta.

The news follows the admission that, contrary to its policy, the agency followed no formal conflict of interest process in procuring the work.

All of the contracts were non-contestable. They were not part of an open process.

Kāinga Ora said that no written work was supplied by Ka Awatea under the contract. Rather, Rama Ormsby “facilitated” 14 workshops and six hui with Auckland iwi.

And there was no written output from the huis?

The facilitation work began in August, 2020, however, a written contract was not signed until October, 2020, by which point fully half of the hui and workshops had already taken place.

Questioned about this timeline, Kāinga Ora’s Te Ariki Pihama, deputy chief executive of the agency’s Group Māori, said the agency had a verbal agreement with Ka Awatea to commence work in August.

So it was a verbal agreement!

The National Party’s Simeon Brown said he has twice written to the Public Service Commission and called for an investigation into the wider picture of government procurement, Gannin Ormsby, and other of his family members.

Both the National and Act parties say the “extraordinary pattern” of government contracts awarded of Minister Mahuta’s husband and other family members requires comprehensive investigation by either the Auditor General or the Public Service Commission.

Kāinga Ora, the Ministry for the Environment, and the Department of Conservation, all contracted work from Ormsby’s company, Ka Awatea Services, in October and November 2020. All of the contracts were awarded on a sole source basis, without competitive bids.

I should stress I have seen nothing to suggest that Nanaia Mahuta has acted inappropriately. The issue is more that public service agencies seem to be bending over backwards to give contracts to her relatives, without following any sort of robust process.

The other issue is that the outcomes or outputs from the contracts have been derisory.