- The Australian Government is committed to ensuring accountability and transparency in its procurement activities. Transparency involves relevant entities taking steps to enable appropriate scrutiny of their procurement activity.
- Requirements for reporting of Australian Government Procurement derive from:
- The Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs) which requires the use of AusTender by all non-corporate Commonwealth entities for reporting all Commonwealth contracts and entity agreements (including standing offer arrangements and amendments to these arrangements) of $10,000 and above;
- Resource Management Guide No 403 Meeting the Senate Order for Entity Contracts, which requires relevant entities make available through their internet site, a list of all contracts to the value of $100,000 or more entered into or not fully performed during the previous twelve months. The Senate Order specifies that the list indicates for each contract whether any confidentiality provisions have been agreed, and if so, the reasons for the confidentiality arrangements; and
- Resource Management Guide No 135 Annual report for non-corporate Commonwealth entities which requires non-corporate Commonwealth entities to report:
- the number of new consultancy services contracts let during the year;
- the total actual expenditure of all new consultancy contracts let during the year;
- the number of ongoing consultancy contracts that were active in the reporting year; and
- the total actual expenditure in the reporting year on the ongoing consultancy contracts.
- The CPRs requires non-corporate Commonwealth entities prescribed corporate Commonwealth entities entities to publish on AusTender:
- an Annual Procurement Plan containing information about planned procurement;
- details of all open approaches to the market; and
- details of Commonwealth contracts and relevant entity agreements, including standing offer arrangements and amendments.
- For prescribed corporate Commonwealth entities, publishing and reporting requirements only apply to procurements that are at or above the procurement reporting threshold.
- Entities subject to the PGPA Act are also required to identify on AusTender whether a contract:
- is for the procurement of consultancy services; and
- includes confidentiality provisions.
- Further guidance on confidentiality can be found on the Confidentiality throughout the procurement cycle page.
- Further guidance on the publishing and reporting requirements for relevant entities at major stages of the procurement process can be found in Resource Management Guide (RMG) No. 423 Procurement Publishing and Reporting Obligations.
Transparency in Commonwealth Government Procurement
Please note the 1 July 2024 CPRs implement a range of changes that may not be reflected throughout all currently available guidance materials. The Department of Finance is in the process of updating all guidance materials. Until this process is complete, references to CPR paragraph numbers and footnotes may be inaccurate.
