Inquiry into Callaghan Innovation’s procurement process
Summary of our report
Read our short summary of why we did this inquiry and what we found.
Photo acknowledgement: iStock @ David F.
Auditor-General's overview
"Delivering effective services to the public depends on maintaining trust between the public sector and the businesses that seek to deliver those services. Suppliers taking part in a public organisation’s procurement process expect to be treated fairly and transparently. When they aren’t, it can negatively impact market confidence and risks eroding trust and confidence in the integrity of the public sector."
What's in this report?
In Part 1, we describe what Callaghan Innovation is, its work, the Start-up programme, the procurement process for the Start-up program, why we carried out the inquiry, what we looked at, and what we did.
In Part 2, we discuss the due diligence process for the Start-up programme procurement, including how the due diligence work was commissioned and carried out.
In Part 3, we discuss how Callaghan Innovation considered the findings of the due diligence process.
In Part 4, we discuss how Callaghan Innovation managed an alleged conflict of interest in the due diligence process.
In Part 5, we discuss how the findings of the due diligence about Manaaki were shared with other public organisations.
In Part 6, we discuss what happened after the procurement, including how Callaghan Innovation responded to the concerns raised about its procurement process and that information about the procurement entered the public domain.
The Appendices contain extracts from the Founder and Start-up Programme Request for Proposal about the due diligence process, and extracts from the Founder and Start-up Programme Request for Proposal terms and conditions relating to confidentiality, based on the government’s standard RFP terms and conditions.