Purchasing

The department's procurement policies are consistent with the provisions of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 and the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines (CPGs).

The department's Contracts and Procurement Advice Section (CPAS) provides specialist advice and assistance to all areas of the department engaged in procurement, through:

• a dedicated help desk for all procurement requests for advice
• in-house legal advice and the management of external procurement related advice
• management of a panel for competitive tendering and contracting advice
• development and maintenance of policy documentation including procurement and contracting templates
• coordination of the department's procurement reporting responsibilities
• provision of internal and external procurement and contracting training
• provision of general procurement information and guidance through the contract management portal.

The department makes use of AusTender in its procurement activities. To help in the effective monitoring and reporting of its contracting activities, the department maintains a national contracts register. It also publishes an annual procurement plan on AusTender, in accordance with the requirements of the CPGs and other relevant guidelines.

As part of its commitment to ensuring that the department has well trained and supported staff, CPAS delivered a series of government procurement and contract management education and training courses, ranging from fundamentals to more advanced topics for officers regularly engaged in purchasing and contract management. Of particular note was the successful training of the 2007–08 graduate intake in government procurement. In addition, CPAS also coordinated the delivery of accredited training in Certificate IV in Government (Procurement) and the Diploma in Government (Contract Management).