Procurement problems with Victorian water project

A $2 billion project to upgrade northern Victoria’s water infrastructure began without enough planning and ignored procurement guidelines, the ombudsman has found.

The investigation found aspects of the Northern Victorian Irrigation Renewal Project (NVIRP), established in 2007 to set up the foodbowl project in the Goulburn-Murray region, lacked transparency.

He found the NVIRP paid $77 million to a company for technology without a tender process, required under government procurement guidelines.

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