Does shire buy local?

A Kununurra construction manager is angry with the way the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley has handled a tender to build the new child care centre.

Stan Best works for Colin Wilkinson Developments (CWD), an unsuccessful tenderer for the project.

In his recommendation to council, shire executive manager of engineering and development services Steven Chadwick states : "CWD have recently moved into the commercial construction industry with limited experience on projects over $1.5 million.

Mr Best has seen red over this statement.

He has been in the construction industry for 40 years and during that time has built many buildings worth far more than $1.5 million including the Bunbury Tech and the Boans Complex in Bunbury.

His last project before selling his company two and a half years ago was a three-storey office accommodation block in Perth.

CWD owner Colin Wilkinson was also the managing director of Rapley Wilkinson (some years ago), one of the top 10 building companies in Perth at the time.

CWD moved into Kununurra two years ago and set up an office costing well in excess of $1 million.

The company now owns more than a dozen houses it has built in Kununurra and had built houses for Argyle Diamonds and GEHA.

It is currently in the process of building a $3 million 16-unit complex in Konkerberry Drive.

Tenders are awarded using scores in a percentage-based process.

70 percent of the approval is based on cost and CWD scored top marks here, coming in more than $88,000 cheaper than the successful Darwin-based tenderer Norbuilt.

Another factor is 'experience' and CWD was marked down three percentage points behind Norbuilt, despite the extensive experience of the owner and his construction manager.

The third criterion is 'availability' and it is assumed this includes labour and materials.

Interestingly, the three unsuccessful tenderers were all realistic under the current building climate in Kununurra and were marked at the same eight percentage points out of 15.

Norbuilt was given the full 15 points - hard to imagine given the supply of labour and materials needed for a project the size of the child care centre.

"You have to be truthful and say that with the amount of building going on around Kununurra at the moment, there may be supply delays," Mr Best said.

He is asking why a company that has plenty of experience, is a large ratepayer in Kununurra, has a proven record and has supplied the lowest tender is being overlooked in favour of a more expensive option from the NT.

He wants to know why ratepayers have to fork out an extra   $88,083 to see the money go out of town.