We maintain a detailed and effective assets register. Assets management is not a significant aspect of our strategic business.

Purchasing

All purchasing is carried out in line with the requirements of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, as detailed in the Accountable Authority’s Instructions and Financial Guidelines, and in keeping with the core principles of ethical, efficient, effective and economical conduct. Templates covering all aspects of purchasing and approval have been developed and are used consistently.

All procurements in excess of $10,000 are reported in AusTender, and contracts in excess of $100,000 are included in Senate Order 192 reporting.

Consultants

Our core business, to conduct research and communicate the findings, can require the use of consultant expertise. Consultants are generally engaged when particular specialist expertise is necessary and sufficiently skilled expertise is not immediately available in-house, or independent advice is required.

The services provided by new and continuing consultants in the reporting period included website content governance services, the review and audit of financial activities, human resources and business process analyses, as well as media relations services.

Processes for the engagement of consultants were consistent with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, as detailed in the Financial Guidelines. As with all procurement, the priority in the engagement of consultants is to obtain value for money. Competitive processes are used for the selection of consultants, and the Accountable Authority’s Instructions for the approval of expenditure.

Consistent with the policy of including trend data in annual reports, expenditure on consultancy contracts over the three most recent financial years is listed in Table 12.

Table 12: Expenditure on consultancy contracts over 2016/17 to 2018/19 (incl. GST)

During 2018/19, three new consultancy contracts were entered into (including those to the value of less than $10,000), involving total actual expenditure of $89,842 (incl. GST). In addition, five ongoing consultancy contracts were active during the year, involving total actual expenditure of $142,948 (incl. GST). Expenditure for the year totalled $232,790 (incl. GST).

The Annual Report contains information about actual expenditure on contracts for consultancies. Information on the value of contracts and consultancies over $10,000 is available on the AusTender website: www.tenders.gov.au.