Principle 5: Ethics and Integrity
Our Values and Code of Conduct
We have a well-established Code of Conduct and set of leadership principles that guide the way we work. The Code of Conduct and leadership principles establish our responsibilities and standards of workplace behaviour. 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. All of our employees are responsible for their own conduct and for their interactions with our customers, stakeholders, the community and with each other.
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. This results in 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 and timely information before meetings. This information consists of Status Reports for each Directorate, a Safety, Health & Wellbeing Status Report, financial management information and Quarterly Standing Reports for each sub-committee.
Each Directorate has its own business plan, which is linked to the Corporate Business Plan and Main Roads’ Strategic Plan. This ensures that all activities across Main Roads are coordinated and aligned with our strategy.
Risk identification and management data are reported quarterly and organisational performance information is provided in a monthly KPI Scorecard. Additionally, a quarterly Productivity Dashboard and a Human Capital Dashboard are produced to provide information on the status of key initiatives and a snapshot of Main Roads workforce.
The Managing Director enters into a performance agreement with the Commissioner, and each member of Corporate Executive has an Individual Performance Agreement with the Managing Director, ensuring individual responsibility and accountability.
An Accountability and Ethical Decision-Making course for all employees successfully raised awareness to the importance of such issues in all decision-making processes. This has been further supplemented by more training for all employees in how to mitigate risk against fraud and corruption.
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 that provides a balanced mix of financial, operational and information technology audits. In addition, Risk Management is considered an integral part of the annual business planning. Risks are managed and monitored at all levels.
We have also deployed a Fraud and Corruption Control Plan and a Fraud and Corruption Policy, which together clearly set out the relevant policies and obligations for all employees with respect to preventing, mitigating and reporting instances of fraud and corruption within Main Roads. These documents are available to all employees via the iRoads intranet site.
Conflicts of Interest
Our Code of Conduct requires all employees 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 also have a Procurement Conflict of Interest Policy and Register, maintained by the Manager Supply and Transport.
We consider a situation to reflect conflicts 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.
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 contracts with Main Roads during the financial year.
Acceptance of Gifts and Benefits
Our Procurement, Conflict of Interest and Gifts and Benefits 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 decide to receive a gift or benefit must register a description of the gift, its value, name of donor, name of recipient and reason for accepting or declining the gift. The Gift and Benefits Register is maintained and reviewed by 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 or a report of alleged inappropriate behaviour or misconduct is received, management is required to take action through internal processes. An initial review of the information or complaint is done to gain greater appreciation of the nature and severity of the alleged behaviour. The outcome of this review guides decision-making on how to determine the most appropriate follow up action which may include:
- Discipline
- Grievance resolution
- Performance management
- Corruption and Crime Commission Procedures
- Improvement actions
These processes may necessitate a review or investigation into the behaviour to enable a fair and equitable decision to be made on the outcomes.
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 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, consisting of two experienced senior officers from our organisation and two senior external Government officials 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. We have gone beyond the requirements of this policy to reflect this in not only 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.
|
Awarded to businesses located within the ‘prescribed distance’ of a regional delivery point as defined in the Buy Local Policy |
|||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |||
| M | R | M | R | M | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n/a | 60% | n/a | 41% | n/a | 71% |
| Awarded to a ‘local business’ as defined in the Buy Local Policy (Target 80%) | |||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |||
| M | R | M | R | M | R |
| 98% | 93% | 90% | 90% | 96% | 100% |
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 one grievance was received and this has been closed out. The grievance 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 |
2013-14 Awards Value (GST excl) |
| McConnell Dowell Constructors Pty Ltd | $53.0 million |
| Transmax Pty Ltd | $11.0 million |
| MACA Civil Pty Ltd (Safelinks Midwest Alliance) | $31.8 million |
| Decmil / OHL JV | $9.3 million |
| Empired Limited | $30.2 million |
| Downer EDI Works Pty Ltd | $6.6 million |
| Lend Lease Corporate Services | $28.9 million |
| Brierty Limited | $72.2 million |
| Ertech Pty Ltd | $25.0 million |