Mr. Owen Keegan:

I dealt with the expenditure on RPS and I believe I was quite open with the committee. It is difficult to defend the level of expenditure on consultants. I am not saying we would not have had to incur expenditure to that extent. However, I cannot say we got value for money because the city council did not comply correctly with procurement procedures. That contract should have gone out to procurement at least once more if not twice more. Had it gone back out to procurement, I would be able to say that irrespective of the final expenditure, we got value for money, but I cannot say that. It did not go back out; the contract was extended. When I took on this matter, I terminated that contract and most of the work has been done in-house, with on occasion some consultants having been engaged directly. However, that RPS contract was terminated shortly after I took over.