THE Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) will be required to justify to the ACT government an almost $5 million contract awarded to a single person to provide “mentoring” to the organisation’s CEO.

Skills Minister Chris Steel has given the CIT’s board of directors until today (June 14) to provide reason for awarding “systems and analyst thinker” Patrick Hollingworth millions in taxpayer dollars for consultancy work.

“If this procurement has been found to have been undertaken without integrity and probity, or if CIT cannot prove it presents value for public money, I will take further action,” Mr Steel told the Legsilative Assembly last week.

The $4.99 million contract awarded to Think Garden, a company run by Mr Hollingworth, falls short of the pay threshold required to go before the government’s procurement board by only $10.

The Canberra Liberals are calling on the ACT government to tell the public everything they know about a series of “questionable” contracts awarded to Mr Hollingworth over the last five years.

Opposition leader Elizabeth Lee last week moved a motion of no-confidence against Mr Steel after saying the Skills Minister was aware the CIT was involved in the unusual procurements as early as March last year.

The Liberals say it has since been reported Chief Minister Andrew Barr was warned in 2019 and at the time stated he was “confident” the contracts represented value for money to Canberra taxpayers.

“He was warned about the contracts in 2019, the Minister for Skills was warned about the contracts in 2021, and yet further contracts worth millions of taxpayer dollars have been signed,” said Ms Lee.

“It is now a week since this issue came to light and we are yet to hear anything of substance from the ACT Labor-Greens government.

“CIT staff are scared of losing their jobs if they speak up and they are crying out for someone in the ACT Labor-Greens government to step up and take responsibility.”