The Queensland Health Payroll System Commission of Inquiry is looking into whether IBM had an unfair advantage in winning a bid to supply a computer system for the state government, which included Queensland Health.
An email by IBM's public-sector expert Lochlan Bloomfield to fellow IBM workers was presented to the inquiry on Monday.
Mr Bloomfield's email said Terry Burns, the man contracted by the government to oversee the tender process, was impressed with IBM and was encouraging IBM to "push the boundaries on this - it will be very well received by him".
"Terry is almost at a stage that he is coaching us and is already 'strongly recommending' the position we should take in some areas," Mr Bloomfield's email says.
"To give some further context, Terry admitted today with a grin that he was once a 'long-time IBMer'."
Gary Uhlmann, a contractor who hired Mr Burns to conduct reviews of the government's computer system, told the inquiry he wasn't sure what Mr Bloomfield meant by coaching.
"If Terry had some particular things he wanted from the vendors, he would be saying, 'This is the sort of thing I'm looking for,'" Mr Uhlmann said.
"Because there may be some things they could bring to the party, particular approaches, experience or expertise or other things that if that comes in, it would really help ... speed up the activity."
IBM had stated during the tendering process that Mr Bloomfield said he had a "strong working relationship" with Mr Uhlmann.
But Mr Uhlmann told the inquiry he had never worked with Mr Bloomfield or known of him before reviewing the government's IT services in 2005 and 2007.
He said he would not say that he had a strong working relationship with Mr Bloomfield or IBM.
His written submission said Mr Bloomfield might have used his name "in case it might have had some positive impact in the decisions making process".
Mr Burns had offered to work for free on the review team assessing the government's IT services, which found serious problems with the management of those services, Mr Uhlmann told the inquiry.
The 2005 review of the government's Shared Services Initiative, managed by IT agency CorpTech, found staff at various levels and stakeholders did not understand their responsibilities.
Mr Uhlmann said he reviewed the initiative again in 2007 and found the system had reached a "point of critical vulnerability".
"Inaction now will result in program failure," his review said.
Mr Burns had recommended the management of the system be given to a contractor.
The government adopted his suggestion to move to the prime-contract model, followed by a closed tender process which was won by IBM.
Thousands of Queensland Health public servants were underpaid, overpaid or not paid at all after the flawed IBM computer system was rolled out in March 2010 under the former Labor government.
The bungle is expected ultimately to cost taxpayers $1.2 billion.
The inquiry will continue on Tuesday.
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