Contractors chided for not tendering

Press, 15 August 1981, Page 11

Contractors chided for not tendering

PA Hastings About 100 delegates attending the annual Contractors' Federation conference in Hastings were told by the Commissioner of Works (Mr Jack Chesterman) that their industry was not “as entrepreneurial or competitive as the taxpayer is being told."

Mr Chesterman said he was concerned that in the last year "of the 349 civil engineering contracts which the Ministry of Works and Development let, in 43 cases only one bid was received." On analysis this was the type of result obtained for work traditionally regarded as the contractors’ bread and butter, Mr Chesterman said.

As an example, there were 18 earthworks contracts let last year. “Two of these attracted only one bid, one attracted two bids, and another five jobs resulted in three bids being obtained." Concreting work showed a similar trend and road -construction and sealing work was the same, or even worse.

While he was pleased to see the contractors compet-

ing for work overseas, Mr Chesterman said he was concerned about the ability of the industry, generally, to meet the coming needs of New Zealand.

He mentioned pipeline construction and said: “We have been in this sort of work for the last 14 years, during which time there have been a number of major contracts let.

"One would have expected that this would have been

spread round, but such is not the case.

“In fact, the competition has been limited, and most of the work has gone to the one firm. This sort of result does not suggest that your industry is as entrepreneurial or as competitive as the taxpayer is being told."

Mr Chesterman also told the contractors that they would need a more professional and business-like approach if they were to get a larger share of big contracts.