12 September 2025
File Ref: IRC-8838
Robert McDermott
[FYI request #31486 email]
Tēnā koe Mr McDermott
Thank you for your email of 1 August 2025 to Te Kaunihera o Pōneke | Wellington City Council (the
Council) requesting information regarding Chameleon Events and the Wellington New Years’ Eve
Event
. Your request has been considered under the Local Government Of icial Information and
Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA). Please find my response below.
1. Al communication, emails, notes and meetings as per the legislative requirements. To be
included all communication, emails, notes and meetings involving WCC, Chameleon Event
and Pyro International.
Please find attached, as
Appendix 01 to my response, a copy of correspondence between the
Council, Chameleon Events and Pyro International for the 2023/24 New Years Eve Event.
Duplicates of emails (from email chains) have been noted. Additional y, some information has been
withheld pursuant to section 7(2)(a) of the LGOIMA, to maintain the privacy of natural persons, and
section 7(2)(f)(i ) of the LGOIMA, to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the
protection of such members, officers, employees, and persons from improper pressure or
harassment.
2. Service agreement engagement with Chameleon Events, to include dates of procurement
process, copy of tender, express of interest and the due process taken in choosing
Chameleon Events, along with Chameleon Events and other company's proposals.
3. How long is service agreement with Chameleon Events?
In September 2022, an exemption was granted to deliver one citywide Christmas event and one New
Year’s Eve event for Wel ington. Please find attached, as
Appendix 02 to my response, a copy of the
Procurement Plan for these events. Some information has been withheld pursuant to section 7(2)(f)(i )
of the LGOIMA, to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the protection of such
members, officers, employees, and persons from improper pressure or harassment
In February 2023, a procurement plan was agreed to go to market for the delivery of Christmas
events only. This was for a period of three years, with the right to renew for a further two years. The
estimated budget was $430,000 per annum, with a maximum spend of up to $2,150,000 over the
maximum possible term.
A closed tender process was undertaken, with only a single compliant response received. The
evaluation panel recommendation notes that the submitted pricing received from the one respondent
was unaffordable, and the panel recommended that the tender be cancel ed. Following the
cancellation, the events team directly engaged with Chameleon Events to quote for the services,
which is allowed in the instance of an unsuccessful tender process (in accordance with the
Government Procurement Rules).
It was the expectation of the procurement team at the time that a resulting contract would have the
provision for up to five years’ worth of Christmas events; however, the Service Agreement (dated
September 2023) only lists an expiry date of December 2023, with no rights of renewal included. That
being said, year-by year discrete contracts can be agreed.
Please find attached, as
Appendix 03 to my response, a copy of the Procurement Plan, Procurement
Evaluation and Recommendation, and the Service Delivery Agreement for 2023.
Some information has been withheld pursuant to section 7(2)(a) of the LGOIMA, to maintain the
privacy of natural persons, section 7(2)(f)(i) of the LGOIMA, to maintain the free and frank expression
of opinions by or between or to members or officers or employees of any local authority in the course
of their duty, and section 7(2)(f)(i ) of the LGOIMA, to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs
through the protection of such members, officers, employees, and persons from improper pressure or
harassment.
In this case, the Council acknowledges that a misunderstanding has occurred. It is possible that
during contract negotiations, the New Year’s Eve event may have been discussed and rol ed into a
contract, however we have been unable to locate a contract that would substantiate this. Additionally,
we note that the repeated direct awarding with no procurement process eventuated through a
misinterpretation of what a procurement exemption was, with the assumption that it was indefinite.
4. What is WCC threshold monetary value for an event before that event needs to go to tender
or express on interest.
The Council’s operational procedure states the most appropriate sourcing method is dependent on
each distinct commercial activity and should be agreed with Commercial Partnerships. The sourcing
method must be defined in any Procurement Plan, and that the sourcing approach is informed in part
by whole of life contracts (with thresholds set at above or below $50,000 and $250,000).
5. WCC service agreement with Chameleon Events, WCC requires a report completed on the
entire NYE event (Satisfactory report delivered to City events Manager for sign off) by 24th
January 2025 please provide a copy of this document.
Please find attached, as
Appendix 04 to my response, a copy of the basic report and the debrief that
is presented to ELT, for the New Year’s Eve event 2024.
Some information has been withheld pursuant to section 7(2)(f)(i) of the LGOIMA, to maintain the free
and frank expression of opinions by or between or to members or officers or employees of any local
authority in the course of their duty.
6. There is a lack of Procurement for this event why? From your own website The Procurement
is designed to promote open, fair competition for NZ Government contract opportunities in this
case does not exist.
As explained in my response to question three, the Council accepts that an error has occurred, and
we are now seeking to correct this so that it does not occur again. As there is already a contract in
place, for Christmas 2025 and New Year’s Eve event for 2025/26, the correction wil not become
prevalent until 2026, in which some additional training to the team wil be delivered to ensure they are
all aware that Commercial Partnerships must be engaged for all contract opportunities in the future,
given that the responsibility for determining and approval of the appropriate commercial approach lies
with the Commercial Partnership team, as per the
Operational Procurement Policy 2022 on our
website (please note however, that this policy is currently under review).
As per section 7(1) of the LGOIMA, I do not consider that in the circumstances of this response, the
withholding of this information is outweighed by the other considerations which render it desirable to
in the public interest to make the information available.
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I trust this information is helpful. If you have any concerns about the response please contact
[Wellington City Council request email]. Alternatively, you are advised of your right to raise any concerns
with the Of ice of the Ombudsman at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Danika Morris-Brown
Senior Advisor Of icial Information
Of icial Information & Privacy
Wellington City Council
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