Main Roads WA - Annual Report

Principle 5: Ethics and Integrity

Our Values and Code of Conduct

We have well established Values and a Code of Conduct that guide the way we work. The Code of Conduct establishes our responsibilities and standards of behaviour against our Values. The Code builds upon the fundamental principles contained in the Public Sector Management Act 1994 and the Public Sector Commission, Commissioner’s Instruction No.7-Code of Ethics which binds all Western Australian public sector employees, from the Commissioner down. This is the essence of values-based management. All of our employees are responsible for their own conduct and for their interactions with our customers, stakeholders, the community and with each other. Corporate Executive and senior managers are also required to promote our Values.

Our Code of Conduct is based on Main Roads Values and the Code of Ethics key principles:

Personal Integrity – We act with care and diligence and make decisions that are honest, fair, impartial and timely, and consider all relevant information.
Relationships with Others – We treat people with respect, courtesy and sensitivity and recognise their interests, rights, safety and welfare.
Accountability – We use the resources of the State in a responsible and accountable manner that ensures the efficient, effective and appropriate use of human, natural, financial and physical resources, property and information.

Ethical and Responsible Decision Making

To support ethical and responsible decision making, Corporate Executive is supplied with appropriate information in a timely fashion before meetings. This information consists of monthly financial management information; quarterly data related to the identification and management of risk; organisational performance information through the provision of a monthly Key Performance Indicator Scorecard; status reports for each Directorate; Occupational Safety and Health Status Reports; and Quarterly Standing Reports from each sub-committee. Each member of Corporate Executive has an annual business plan for their own Directorate, which is linked to the Corporate Business Plan and the Strategic Plan.

The Managing Director has a performance agreement with the Commissioner and other members of the Corporate Executive have Individual Development Plans with the Managing Director.

In addition, we continue to deliver mandatory training in Accountability and Ethical Decision Making to all employees. This has been successful in raising awareness of the importance of decision making in aspects of our business.

Corruption Prevention

We have strategies in place to prevent the misappropriation of funds and inappropriate use of public property that include a comprehensive Annual Audit Plan providing a balanced mix of financial, operational and information technology audits. In addition, risk management is considered an integral part of the annual business planning approach and risks are managed and monitored at all levels.

Conflicts of Interest

Our Code of Conduct states that all employees have a responsibility to ensure our personal, financial and political interests do not conflict with our performance or ability to perform in an impartial manner. Where a conflict of interests occurs, it should always be resolved in favour of the public interest rather than personal interest.

We consider a situation reflects a conflict of interest when:

Decisions are biased as a result of outside activities or private employment
Outside activities result in a less than satisfactory work performance or cause breaches of standards such as those relating to occupational safety and health
Information gained from official employment is used for private gain
Government resources are used for private gain
Government time is used to pursue private interests.

Each Corporate Executive member is required to sign a representation memorandum addressed to the Managing Director which includes a section on personal interests in Main Roads’ contracts. The Chief Finance Officer, Managing Director and Accountable Authority then sign a Management Representation Letter to the Auditor General addressing various categories including Internal Controls and Risk Management.

In 2012-13, other than normal contracts of employment of service, no senior officers, firms of which senior officers are members, or entities in which senior officers have substantial interests, had any interests in existing or proposed contacts with Main Roads.

Acceptance of Gifts and Benefits

Our policy states that ‘Main Roads employees must not be influenced or perceived to be influenced by the receipt of gifts or benefits’. All employees who receive a gift or benefit with an estimated equivalent value of more than $50 must register the description of the gift, value, name of donor, name of recipient and reason for accepting or declining the gift. The Gift Register is maintained and reviewed by the Manager Legal and Insurance Services.

Misconduct and Inappropriate Behaviour

All employees are expected to abide by the following:

Public Sector Code of Ethics
Main Roads Code of Conduct
Section 7 and 9 Public Sector Management Act
Main Roads Values
Corruption and Crime Procedures and Guidelines.

When a complaint, alleged inappropriate behaviour or misconduct is reported, management is required to take action through internal processes. This usually requires an initial review of the information or complaint to provide guidance on the severity of the alleged behaviour and the most suitable process to address the issue. We may utilise one of the following processes to further examine or deal with alleged behaviour in breach of any of the above specified requirements:

Discipline
Grievance resolution
Performance management
Corruption and crime procedures
Improvement actions.

These processes may necessitate a need for a review or investigation into the behaviour, depending on the severity of the alleged behaviour. Misconduct as defined by the Corruption and Crime Commission is required to be reported to the Commission. Management actions for matters related to misconduct require a more thorough review and more formal processes when examining the alleged behaviour.

Ethical Procurement

Our procurement policies and procedures comply with the requirements of the State Supply Commission and are certified to AS/NZS ISO 9001:2008. Policies are documented in the Procurement Management Manual and all tendering and contract administration procedures are documented in the Tendering and Contract Administration Manual. An ongoing compliance program is in place to ensure that these policies and procedures are implemented. A Tender Committee, comprising two experienced senior officers from our organisation and two senior external Government officials who provide additional assurance that procurement actions comply with policies and standards for high risk, potentially contentious procurements. In addition, we submit all Procurement Plans and Tender Recommendations for Goods and Services arrangements over $5 million for review and endorsement by the WA Government’s State Tender Review Committee.

Sustainable Procurement and Buy Local

The State Supply Commission Policy on sustainable procurement requires us to demonstrate that we have considered sustainability in our procurement of goods and services. However, we have gone beyond the requirements of this policy to reflect this not only in our processes for procuring goods and services but also in procuring works. In addition, we apply the Buy Local Policy where we consider and give preference to local providers in our purchases as the benefits to industry development and employment are recognised. Buy Local Policy clauses are also included in all our tender documents and tender assessments. Reporting for Buy Local is extracted from information contained within the Department of Finance’s ‘Tenders WA’ website. Data is not yet available for the current year.

Category	2011		20121
Category	Metro	Regional	Regional
Awarded to businesses located within the ‘prescribed distance’ of a regional delivery point as defined in the Buy Local Policy	n/a	60%	41%
Awarded to a ‘local business’ as defined in the Buy Local Policy (Target 80%)	98%	93%	90%

1 Changes to the Buy Local Policy removes the collection of award to a local business for the Metropolitan area from 2012 onwards.

Procurement Grievances

We have a procedure in place for dealing with procurement grievances which is referenced in all tender documents and a copy is accessible from our website. The procedure has been endorsed by the Western Australian Road Construction and Maintenance Industry Advisory Group and provides for a customer-focused, fair, structured and relationship-based approach to reviewing grievances lodged by contractors. During the year, two grievances were received and these have been closed out. The grievances did not highlight any common areas of concern. The low number of grievances, which represented less than 1% of all contracts awarded, is consistent with previous years and indicates that our procurement processes continue to be fair and equitable. The table below lists our major suppliers/contractors and their award value over the past year.

Major Suppliers/Contractors	2013 Award Value (GST Excl) $million
Gateway WA1	900.0
MACA Civil Pty Ltd	59.1
Abigroup Contractors Pty Ltd	32.0
Downer EDI Works Pty Ltd	21.6
Highway Construction Pty Ltd	12.9
Structural Systems (Civil) Pty Ltd	11.0
Bocol Constructions Pty Ltd	7.2
Pavement Management Services Pty Ltd	5.1
303LOWE Australia Pty Ltd	5.0
Marketforce	5.0

1 The value of the Gateway WA contract is the current estimate.

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Mitchell Freeway Widening

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