English said Nguyen had allegedly engaged in collusive tendering practices,also known as bid rigging,which included passing on budget figures and pricing information from competing bidders to those companies whose quote he intended to have approved.
“Alternatively ... to ensure his preferred supplier was awarded the work,Mr Nguyen would draft both the winning and the unsuccessful quotes,the latter of which are also known colloquially as dummy bids.”
The projects awarded to companies Nguyen was associated with included upgrades to Pioneers Memorial Park in Leichardt,Leichardt Oval,Petersham Park and Camperdown Memorial Rest Park.
Nguyen gave evidence to the inquiry that creating the dummy quotes made his job easier as he knew the chosen contractors would perform.
“It’s just helping a friend out to some certain extent. If I favour them to do the work,I know they’re there to do the work,” he said.
“If it was to be a different contractor who I had never worked with,I have to be there to babysit them because I don’t know what they’re like or what they’ll do.”
The ICAC is also examining allegations arising from procurement processes for two major contractual projects by Transport for NSW,which used Downer as the principal contractor.
One of the projects was the transport access program to install ramps,lifts and carparks at train stations. The other involved rail corridor and platform upgrades for a new fleet of intercity trains.
The inquiry heard that Nguyen,mostly while he was a council employee,had joined with others to tender for,and often deliver,civil,building and landscaping works at multiple train stations through three separate companies:ASN Contractors,Sanber Group and RJS Infrastructure Group.
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“In excess of $10.28 million of public monies was paid to these three companies in 2014 to 2020 in connection with these transport projects,” English said.
English alleged each of the companies had benefited from “improper assistance” from Transport for NSW bureaucrats Nima Abdi and Raja Sanber,and two Downer employees,to help boost the competitiveness of their tenders during the procurement and delivery stages of the projects.
English said none of the three companies had any employees. He said those involved would mostly subcontract the work to other engineering and construction firms and collect a profit on top.
He said the investigation had uncovered other Downer employees appeared to have influenced the awarding of subcontracts for Transport for NSW projects “to companies with which they had an association and,in some cases,in exchange for a benefit without declaring a conflict of interest”.
The inquiry heard one of the Downer employees had sent a text message to Sanber about contract variations for upgrades to one train station in 2017 in which he said:“I am at my limit now and can not push any more veries[variations] through. You need to make it all happen asap so people don’t start sniffing around and asking questions...”
The six-week hearing continues in front of Chief Commissioner John Hatzistergos.
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