Prime Minister John Key has admitted to sloppy handling over the Government's new fleet of BMWs but insists the cars are a good deal.
The decision to replace the Government's 34 three-year-old BMW limousines with new ones sparked anger last week, with the move seen as hypocritical against a backdrop of
ministerial calls for spending restraint.
Mr Key has said he didn't know about the deal until a few weeks ago, but documents released yesterday show his chief of staff, Wayne Eagleson, had discussed the purchase with a Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) official last July.
"My chief of staff has no recollection of that meeting and there was no follow-up by either him or DIA. He has apologised for not drawing the matter to my attention at the time," Mr Key said yesterday.
"These papers show a series of lapses in the handling of what should have been recognised as a sensitive issue of significant public interest.
"The whole thing has been sloppy and, frankly, the public deserve better. I'm not going to make excuses, the matter should have been handled better by everyone involved, including myself."
The prime minister's office confirmed to NZPA that Mr Eagleson had offered his resignation over the matter, which Mr Key declined.
Mr Key said the BMW deal was a particularly good one for the taxpayer, with the company also taking on responsibility for the maintenance of the cars.
"The purchase price of the cars, at a significant discount to normal retail, is likely to reflect the anticipated price we will sell them (for), on top of that they are essentially maintenance and repairs-free. By any definition, that's a very strong deal."
Mr Key said the contract was a branding deal for BMW.
"Every night there are pictures of me or other ministers getting out of BMW cars and it's on nationwide TV and that is worth a lot of money to them in their view."
The Government would undertake a commercial tender process for new cars when current contract expired in 2014, Mr Key said. "Any tender from BMW would be measured against tenders from other brands such as Holden and Ford and so on, a decision would then be made based on the best value for money for the New Zealand taxpayer."
