Tetebala -
What’s in a name?

Tetebala is a professional services firm that specialises in providing expert commercial solutions for major infrastructure projects.

Founder, Director and Principal of “Tetebala”, Andrew Garlick, was born and raised in the Milne Bay region of Papua New Guinea where the local language was Dobuan.

The company's name, "Tetebala," is a Dobuan word that translates to "bridge" (both a verb and a noun) in English. It encapsulates the company's mission to bridge the gap between different parties, bring them together, and find solutions to overcome obstacles.

The company's focus is on combining experience, knowledge, and formal qualifications in both civil engineering and law to provide comprehensive commercial solutions for clients.

Tetebala's approach is marked by intelligence, common sense, integrity, and dignity. The company's logo, which features two "t's" joined by a bridge, represents this approach. It symbolizes the company's core function of connecting, joining, and resolving, which is reflected in the company's work on major civil engineering infrastructure projects.

Andrew Garlick

As the founder and principal of Tetebala, Andrew Garlick brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and skills to the table, having spent over 35 years providing commercial and contractual management and administration for major infrastructure projects both in Australia and overseas. His specialist areas of expertise include construction procurement, tender/contractual management, and dispute resolution; all in accordance with good governance commercial frameworks, practices, and procedures.

Andrew's reputation in the industry is built on his extensive and respected track record of technical engineering skills, legal application to infrastructure, and the ability to lead and communicate effectively across a wide range of groups.

He began his career as a Site Engineer before advancing through various roles such as Contract/Project Manager, Design Manager, and Estimating/Risk Manager. He later furthered his education by obtaining a Masters in Engineering Management and a Masters in Construction Law; with a focus on procurement, tenders/contracts, and claims. Andrew later served for many years as the CEO of MIEngineers, a specialist procurement, contract management, and dispute resolution consultancy.

With the goal of providing his clients with the highest level of service, Andrew has taken the skills and knowledge he gained throughout his career and founded his own consultancy, Tetebala.

Andrew is well-versed in the relevant commercial frameworks, policies, practices and procedures and is dedicated to expertly undertake commercial engineering, claims assessments, resolve disputes, and manage the development, assessment, negotiation, approval, and execution of commercial agreements between government agencies and third parties.

He is widely known and respected amongst government agency teams, their consultants, contractors, and other associated interfacing organisations as a person of integrity, providing candid and unbiased advice with respect and dignity to all parties. His open communication style has resulted in wide-ranging cooperative and proactive working relationships, where leading rather than pushing is the acknowledged outcome. He is transparent in his desire for both himself and those he works with to review performance to ensure that lessons learned are understood, captured.

As a recognised leader in the commercial engineering sphere, Andrew is dedicated to staying at the forefront of industry developments by regularly participating in and presenting at conferences and workshops, both domestically and internationally. His contributions to the field are an invaluable resource for staying abreast of new, innovative, and best practices in the field.

Andrew's extensive skill set encompasses a wide range of disciplines, including civil and commercial engineering/ management, construction law, contracts, tenders, procurement, program analysis, estimating, risk management, design, project management, finance, mentoring, and review and improvement cycles.


No man is an island…

Andrew is assisted by others in his small team as required, including direct hires and specialist sub-consultants.

"Andrew’s commercial acumen is of the highest standard"

"Andrew's efforts have saved considerable time, money and stress."

"Andrew provides an exceptional engineering service"

"Andrew’s commercial acumen is of the highest standard" "Andrew's efforts have saved considerable time, money and stress." "Andrew provides an exceptional engineering service"


I am more than happy to recommend Andrew for tender documentation preparation. He has many years’ experience preparing high quality tender documents for TfNSW road & bridge construction contracts and reviewing documents prepared by others.

Andrew’s commercial acumen is of the highest standard and has proven to be highly valuable to our business.

- Ian Archer, Director, TfNSW Southern Project Office


Andrew provides an exceptional engineering service…

to Transport for NSW.  In recent years, Andrew has assisted me on a number projects in undertaking various services including, contract document preparation and review, claims assessment and advice, program review and preparation, and contract supervision.  All these services were completed to a very high standard in a timely manner.

- Shaun Walsh, TfNSW Project / Contract Manager, Princes Highway Upgrade Berry to Bomaderry


It has been an absolute pleasure to deal with Andrew on the M1 Productivity Package works.

Andrew’s efforts have saved considerable time, money and stress.

- Peter Carson, TfNSW Senior Project / Contract Manager, M1 Productivity Package

Contact Us

Andrew Garlick
+61 (0)412 453 647
andrew.garlick@tetebala.com.au