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 Procurement and Contracts Branch (PCB), Financial Strategy and Services Division, provides specialist advice and assistance to all areas of the department engaged in procurement, through:

• a dedicated help desk for procurement and contracting advice across the department
• in-house legal and probity advice and the management of external legal advice in relation to procurement
• services to provide hands-on support for larger tender processes to ensure value for money and compliance with legal and policy requirements
• development and maintenance of policy documentation and guidance including procurement and contracting templates
• the coordination of the department’s procurement reporting responsibilities
• the provision of internal and external procurement and contracting training throughout the department.

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 contracts register. It also publishes an Annual Procurement Plan on AusTender, in accordance with the requirements of the CPGs and the relevant guidelines.

Consistent with the commitment to ensuring that the department has well trained and supported staff, a series of government procurement and contract management education and training courses has been delivered to a range of departmental staff, including staff posted overseas.

These courses range from fundamentals to more advanced topics for officers regularly engaged in purchasing and contract management. Training was conducted for all SES officers in government procurement as part of the Financial Essentials for Senior Executives program.

Purchaser/provider arrangements

The department has purchaser arrangements with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Austrade for the purchase of management services at overseas posts.

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 the agreement. Management services include personnel, office, property and financial services.

The department signed a new purchaser agreement with DFAT on 1 September 2007. The new SLA applies from 1 September 2007 to 30 June 2010 and may be extended annually. The department’s purchaser agreement with Austrade expired on 30 June 2009. The agreement is being extended on a month- by-month basis while a new agreement is being finalised.

The department pays 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 for the department and the number of departmental A-based and/or locally engaged employees at post. The total SLA fees for 2008–09 were $4 540 896 (DFAT) and $461 506 (Austrade).