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❓ Mr. Huston questions procurement practices across WA government departments and agencies, specifically regarding budget code input for purchase orders over $10,000. The Minister declines to answer, citing the unreasonable resource burden of collecting the requested information.

AnsweredQoN 153Legislative Assembly

Asked

28 May 2025

Member

Mr Jonathan Huston

Portfolio

Energy and Decarbonisation; Manufacturing; Skills and TAFE; Pilbara

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to Purchase Orders (PO) raised (for purchased items or services where the minimum value requires a PO to be raised) of face value above $10,000, and I ask: (a) Detail any department or agency (for such a purchase defined above) where a budget line item or budget code was not input into the departmental or agency or procurement system ( e.g. SAP, ERP or procurement database)? Please provide responses by agency: (i) The non GST dollar value of the non-inputted (i.e. uncoded) item; (ii) The description of services or goods provided by the individual PO; (iii) In not inputted, why the budget code input process was not done in accordance with WA Public Sector (WAPS) procurement principles and/or industry best practice; (iv) If codes are not matched to each PO by the user in the procurement departmental system, how are purchases accurately reconciled or allocated to management reports and the final chart of accounts; (v) Are separate non-system methods employed, such as Excel spreadsheets for tallying, then manually input as totals to complete transactions and finalise management reports and final accounts; (vi) Are expenses manually allocated to budget categories or automatically allocated according to a unique budget code as required in procurement standards? If not, why not; and (vii) Would you as Minister describe your procurement procedures as compliant with best practice and WAPS procurement standards? If not, why not?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered

12 August 2025

Responded by

Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation; Manufacturing; Skills and TAFE; Pilbara

Response time

8 days

The Member is requesting a significant amount of information and detail, across all departments, agencies and government entities. The information requested is not readily available and collecting it would divert staff away from their normal duties, and is not considered to be a reasonable or appropriate use of government resources.

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