THE Canberra Liberals have called into question $8.87 million worth of “unusual” contracts awarded by the Canberra Institute of Technology to a consultancy company.

Canberra Liberals Leader Elizabeth Lee said that since 2017, contracts were all awarded to the same person, and linked entities, primarily to provide mentoring to the CIT CEO, and have steadily escalated in price.

The most recent contract– signed only in March this year – is valued at almost $5 million, Ms Lee said.

“The services provided by the contractor do not appear to have changed significantly since 2017 but the rates to provide those services have increased from $1,000 per day to $10,000 per day,” Ms Lee said.

“To have someone essentially on a retainer costing $10,000 a day to mentor the CEO raises serious questions about the use of taxpayers’ money.”

Ms Lee said tax payers have a right to know what they were paying for.

“There is very little publicly available information to indicate what services were delivered under these contracts and there is no transparency about what Canberrans have received for an eye-watering $10,000 per day,” Ms Lee said.

Ms Lee has previously slammed the ACT government’s procurement process, calling for all procurements over the past five years to be audited.

“These CIT contracts are shrouded in secrecy and raise alarm about probity in ACT government procurements,” MsLee said.

“The minister responsible must be upfront with the community and explain why and how a whopping $8.87m was spent with very little to show for it.”