The City of Cockburn awarded its in-situ concreting contract to Axiis Contracting even though Dowsing had the higher overall evaluated score. The City said Axiis offered the most advantageous submission: it ranked first on cost, presented less risk of variations, and received more favourable reference-check results. Council accepted the award on 8 July 2025. The public agenda does not include the confidential detailed evaluation attachment, so the full scoring and reference evidence cannot be independently assessed from the published summary.
What the City awarded
The tender, RFT18/2025, covers in-situ concreting services for the City of Cockburn. The City’s estimated contract value was $5,290,125 excluding GST. The base term is three years, with City-instigated extension options of one year and a further period of up to 12 months, for a maximum of five years. The City’s council agenda and tender register record the procurement and award details.
Four bidding groups submitted tenders, according to PerthNow. The City’s public summary says Dowsing achieved the best overall evaluated score, while Axiis ranked second on qualitative criteria and first on cost criteria.
Why Axiis was selected over the higher scorer
The evaluation panel recommended Axiis as the most advantageous submission, rather than simply selecting the tender with the highest overall score. The City’s stated reasons included value for money, lower risk of variations, and more favourable references. It also said Axiis’s submission supported easier future engagements for specific projects.
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The City said Dowsing’s departures from the contract and listed exclusions could create additional risk. In particular, those risks were not reflected in the estimated contract value used to determine future adjustments. That is the City’s explanation of the recommendation; the public summary does not disclose the detailed scoring weights or show exactly how each factor affected the final numerical result.
What the reported scores show—and what they do not
PerthNow reported scores of 80 out of 100 for Dowsing and 79.94 for Axiis. The City agenda confirms the relative overall ranking but does not publish those exact figures in its public summary. The difference reported by the news outlet is 0.06 points.
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Those figures do not establish that the award contradicted the tender rules. Procurement evaluations can consider more than a headline total, including cost, qualitative criteria, contract departures, and risk. In this case, the City says those considerations informed its view of the most advantageous submission. Without the full scoring matrix, published criteria and weights, and evaluation attachment, readers cannot determine from the public summary precisely how the panel reconciled the overall score with its recommendation.
What the City said about references
The agenda’s summary of the evaluation says Axiis’s references were positive about timely, quality work and the absence of hidden charges. It describes Dowsing’s reference score as lower, with potential issues raised about operators and safety, while characterizing the references overall as positive. These are findings attributed to the City’s evaluation report, not independently verified assessments.
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At the council meeting, Dowsing Group representative Sam Dowsing asked whether Axiis’s references could be independently validated and why the higher-scoring submission had not been recommended. The City’s infrastructure services manager, Anton Lees, told PerthNow: “We’ve taken that information on board and obviously provided that recommendation in the report on those references.” The public documents gathered do not include the full reference-check records.
What happened at the council meeting
At its 8 July 2025 meeting, Council considered the recommendation and accepted Axiis’s tender. The official meeting minutes record Dowsing’s question about the ranking and the City’s response that officers had followed the formal tender process, reviewed each submission, reached a consolidated view, and brought a recommendation to Council.
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Dowsing told councillors: “In 40 years of business serving local governments, we have never seen a recommendation contradict the outcome of the tender assessment, and we would like to question the integrity of the override of the outcome of the extensive assessment criteria, giving Dowsing Group scored the highest ranking submission.” The minutes establish what was raised and how the City described its process; they are not a separate legal finding about whether the evaluation was proper.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What work the contract covers
The contract covers a range of the City’s in-situ concrete work, including:
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- Footpaths, shared-use paths, driveways, and crossovers.
- Concrete pads or footings for bus shelters, shade shelters, and similar items.
- Setting out, site clearance, excavation, and subgrade preparation.
- Forming and finishing concrete, backfilling, cleanup, reconstruction, restoration, and repairs.
What the public record leaves unresolved
The available public agenda summary identifies a confidential evaluation attachment but does not provide the full criterion-by-criterion scores, weighting, or underlying reference documents. The City’s tender register and council minutes document the award and decision, while PerthNow supplies the exact score figures and the count of bidding groups. No separate independent audit or regulator finding on the award is identified in these materials. As a result, the public record explains the City’s stated rationale but does not let readers independently reproduce the evaluation or test each assessment against the underlying evidence.
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