This article was first published by RNZ.

The Office of the Auditor-General will investigate the procurement and contract management practices of Oranga Tamariki, following concerns raised about the agency’s decision-making.

Earlier this year, providers were given little notice their funding from the care and protection agency would be reduced or discontinued as their contracts came up for renewal in the new financial year, putting at risk the services they provided to vulnerable children and communities.

The Ministry for Children funds a range of programmes delivered by external care providers, including counselling for children; social workers in schools; teen parent units; wrap-around support for neurodivergent children; support for foster parents and family and sexual violence programmes.

What followed was a period of limbo for some providers with little or no communication or explanation from Oranga Tamariki about the contracts.

The Auditor-General announced on Monday it had set the terms of reference for an inquiry, which will “examine the process by which Oranga Tamariki decided to renew, vary or allow to expire contracts with social service providers for 2024/25”.

Concerns had been raised with the Office, it said, about the processes the ministry followed to “manage its contracts with social service providers, particularly its decision-making process for the 2024/25 contracting round”.

The Office said public organisations should use “evidence and analysis” to inform their decisions about how to spend public money, and should “manage their relationships with suppliers effectively”.

“The services being delivered under the contracts in question support some of New Zealand’s most vulnerable tamariki and rangatahi, and their whānau.

“It is vital that these contracts are managed well from beginning to end.”

The inquiry will look at:

• the processes, frameworks, and practices Oranga Tamariki had in place to support its decision-making
• the criteria and evidence Oranga Tamariki relied on to make its decisions, including the monitoring and reporting requirements for existing contracts
• what Oranga Tamariki communicated to providers, in particular those whose contracts would be varied or allowed to expire
• what planning was done to ensure a smooth transition to new contracts and to exit from others
• any other related matter the Auditor-General considered it desirable to report on.

The ministry would not be investigating policy decisions around contracting decisions or strategy, nor would it look at individual decisions about a particular provider.

A report will be published once the inquiry is complete and tabled in Parliament.

‘Our concerns have been heard’

Te Pai Ora Social Service Providers Aotearoa chief executive Belinda Himiona said she was glad the concerns had been taken up and an inquiry would be held.

“We reached out to the Office of the Auditor General back in July of this year with serious concerns about Oranga Tamariki’s contracting practices.”

Those concerns included “issues with the notice period for contracts being removed”, a lack of “transparent processes around contract management”, that there was “no transition planning for children and families in services that were being cut” and a “lack of trust” in the transparency and process Oranga Tamariki was running.

The Auditor-General announcement was very reassuring for the sector, Himiona said.

“We’ve been very worried that nobody’s been hearing our concerns about these contracting practices, and it’s essentially meaning the removal of very important services for children, very vulnerable children and families.”

The Office of the Auditor-General was the right place to consider those concerns, she said, and she felt “very heartened that there will be a full inquiry”.

By Lillian Hanly of RNZ.