3.1 The CPRs set out the rules that officials must comply with when they procure goods and services. The CPRs also indicate good practice. The CPRs have been designed to provide officials with flexibility in developing and implementing procurement processes that reflect their relevant entity’s needs.
3.2 Except where required by law, it is the government’s policy position that ministers will not:⁴
- be involved in the conduct of procurement processes; or
- direct officials about the conduct of procurement processes.
3.3 Where ministers are required to have a role in a procurement process that role and any decisions arising from that role should be appropriately documented and these CPRs must be applied by officials to the maximum extent practicable.
- With specific regard to where a procurement is a covered procurement under the Government Procurement (Judicial Review) Act 2018, all relevant CPR paragraphs (as identified in 6.10 and Division 2) must be applied.
3.4 Achieving value for money is the core rule of the CPRs. This requires the consideration of the financial and non-financial costs and benefits associated with procurement.
3.5 Further information and guidance on applying the CPRs are available on Finance’s procurement policy website.
3.6 Relevant entities may have additional rules, guidance, templates or tools that apply when conducting procurements.
Compliance with the two divisions of the CPRs
3.7 Officials of non-corporate Commonwealth entities must comply with the ‘rules for all procurements’ listed in Division 1, regardless of the procurement value. Officials must also comply with the ‘additional rules’ listed in Division 2 when the estimated value of the procurement is at or above the relevant procurement threshold and when an Appendix A exemption does not apply.
3.8 Officials of corporate Commonwealth entities prescribed in section 30 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014 (PGPA Rule) as having to comply with the CPRs must comply with the ‘rules for all procurements’ listed in Division 1 and the ‘additional rules’ listed in Division 2 when the expected value of the procurement is at or above the relevant procurement threshold and when an Appendix A exemption does not apply.
3.9 Despite being prescribed corporate Commonwealth entities, Australian Digital Health Agency, Australian Human Rights Commission, High Speed Rail Authority, National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Old Parliament House, and Regional Investment Corporation, must apply a procurement threshold and reporting threshold of $80,000 for procurements other than the procurement of construction services. They may opt-in to coordinated procurements and must only comply with those policies of the Commonwealth that specify compliance by corporate Commonwealth entities.
3.10 Despite being a corporate Commonwealth entity, the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, in regard to the administrative services that relate to the superannuation schemes it administers only, must apply a procurement threshold of $80,000 and a reporting threshold of $10,000 for procurements other than the procurement of construction services. They may opt-in to coordinated procurements and must only comply with those policies of the Commonwealth that specify compliance by corporate Commonwealth entities.
Using Appendix A exemptions
3.11 When an Appendix A exemption applies, the additional rules of Division 2 for procurements at or above the relevant procurement threshold do not apply to the procurement, but the relevant entity must still comply with the rules for all procurements (Division 1), excluding paragraphs 4.7, 4.8 and 7.26. This does not prevent a relevant entity from voluntarily conducting the procurement for goods or services covered by an Appendix A exemption in accordance with some or all of the processes and principles of Division 2.
4Consistent with section 19 of the PGPA Act, an Accountable Authority may keep the minister informed about the conduct of procurement processes.
