Here is the $10M per month, $30M contract between the Victorian Government and Unified Security Group (Australia) Pty Ltd, sorted out one Friday arvo.

Download 3446-3062-1456-v1 - Agreement for Professional Services - Unified - Redacted

This is the record of the contract on the Victorian Government tenders website.

The key points:

• start Sunday 29 March 2020, end 30 June 2020 - 3 months duration
• value - $30.2M - ie $10M per month flat rate
• for security services at accommodation during COVID-19 isolation
• Unified Security Group was an unregistered or new provider to the Vic Govt.

The parties to the contract are:

Services commenced in the early hours of Sunday, 29 March 2020.

In a mid-morning press conference on Sunday, 29 March, the Minister for Jobs, Precincts and Regions Martin Pakula announced that the government had secured 5,000 hotel rooms supervised by security guards.

While services and payments commenced 29 March, the contract wasn't signed until 9 April 2020.

And what did Unified Security Group (Australia) P/L have to do for its $30M?

This:

Nice work if you can get it - but Unified Security Group (Australia) P/L wasn't just any ordinary security company.

For a start, it wasn't Victorian.

It wasn't registered as a supplier to the Victorian Government.

It had no history as a provider of these services to the Victorian government.

It didn't need to tender for this contract (it was handed out one Friday arvo maaaaate!)

It didn't need to demonstrate it had the staff and resources available to fulfil the contract.

It has a colourful background of bankruptcies, disappearing Glock pistols, Lamborghinis and a boss who "lives in the most expensive house in Earlwood" (we'll bring you more on the chequered history of Unified in another post).

But for now here's perhaps the most important thing about the company - so far as Daniel Andrews government was concerned.

It's indigenous!

LEADING CORPORATE SECURITY SERVICES COMPANY

Unified Security is proud to be an indigenous company and is wholly Australian owned. We provide an extensive range of professional security services to clients nationwide.

Over the years, Unified has substantially invested in growing and maintaining our Quality Assured Management Practices, and we use these learned efficiencies to amplify our clients' success.

Our security solutions can be tailored to your organisation's needs, and our approach to managing your security is as flexible as your requirements dictate. We have one key goal in mind: to provide you with an all-encompassing security solution that allows your organisation to operate efficiently, effectively, and safely.

Our clientele represent a wide variety of specialised services across an extensive range of industry sectors.

Despite this diversity, we manage all of our client’s needs with a degree of professionalism that is second to none.

How lovely for Unified Security, $10M per month, "despite this diversity managing our client's needs".

Not bad for a company that Dun & Bradstreet reports as turning over just $3.5M per annum.

As Kerry Packer might say, you only get one Daniel Andrews in your life.

So why would the Victorian Government let a $30M contract to a NSW mob like this with no tender and a pretty flimsy "Services Brief" by which to hold them to account - particularly when taxpayer funded police and ADF were available?

That is the $30M question.

And we will get answers.

Every touch leaves its trace.