Purchasing
Assessment of Purchasing Against Key Objectives
Our procurement policy conforms with the core principles of the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines (CPGs). Those officers who are responsible for the procurement of goods and services are provided with support through the services of the Contracts and Procurement Advice Section (CPAS) in the Legal Division. This section seeks to ensure that procurement activity reflects best value for money, is an efficient, effective, and ethical use of public resources, and complies (where required) with mandatory aspects of the CPGs.
The CPAS provides support through:
- a dedicated Helpdesk for all procurement and contracting enqueries
- in-house legal advice
- the management of a panel for Competitive Tendering and Contracting advice
- the development and maintenance of policy documentation including procurement and contracting templates
- the coordination of our procurement reporting responsibilities
- the provision of procurement and contracting training.
CPAS delivered a series of procurement and contract management education and training courses during 2005-06. These ranged from fundamentals, aimed at the induction and graduate level, to more advanced topics for officers who are regularly engaged in procurement or contract management. In addition, CPAS has coordinated the delivery of accredited training with 93 of our staff attending the Certificate IV in Government (Procurement) and 44 attending the Diploma in Government (Contract Management).
As a result of the new procurement environment, 2005-06 has seen a 35 per cent increase in the number of tenders advertised and a 58 per cent increase in the number of advices (4433) provided by the CPAS Helpdesk.
Purchaser provider arrangements – DIMA and DFAT/AUSTRADE service level agreements
We have purchaser arrangements in place with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Austrade for the purchase of management services at overseas posts.
Responsibility
The service level agreements (SLAs) remove duplication of administrative services supporting an efficient, whole-of-government use of resources overseas. They detail the provision of management services, agency responsibilities, performance indicators, and cost recovery arrangements for the term of each agreement. Management services include personnel, office, property, and financial services. Each SLA also includes a dispute resolution mechanism and a provision for reduced fees if services are not provided to the agreed standard, based on the performance indicators.
Control arrangements
The DFAT service level agreement applies from 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2007 and can be extended for up to two years. We signed a new purchaser agreement with Austrade, effective from 1 April 2006 to 30 June 2009, which may be extended annually.
Resourcing
We pay global service fees to cover the costs to DFAT and Austrade for delivering the services. The fees are calculated on the basis of locally engaged staff salaries, the time spent by those staff delivering management services, and the number of our A-based and locally engaged employees at post. The total SLA fees for 2005-06 were $5 063 028.
Performance against outcomes and outputs
The SLAs contribute to our outcomes by contributing to the efficient delivery of management services at overseas posts.