Our approach to procuring goods and services, including consultancies, reflects the core policies and principles of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.

We advertise open tender opportunities via AusTender (www.tenders.gov.au) to procure a range of goods and services. We use AusTender to manage our tenders, including releasing tender opportunities, issuing addenda and receipt of tender submissions. Interested parties can register their details with AusTender to receive notifications about our tenders.

Senate Order on Entity Contracts

As a Corporate Commonwealth entity, from 1 July 2017 DHA complies with the Senate Order on Entity Contracts and publishes a list of contracts over $100,000 (GST inclusive) on our website for the relevant reporting period. Refer to our website (www.dha.gov.au/entitycontracts) to read the report.

Consultancies

We engage consultants as required when specialist expertise is not available in house and the services are required for a defined period of time. In 2019–20, we entered into 41 new consultancy contracts worth $4.67 million (GST inclusive).

The majority of these contracts related to property provisioning and construction activities, including architectural design, town planning, quantity surveying, impact assessment (heritage, flora and fauna, etc.), social and cultural planning, legal services and graphic design services.

Remaining contracts were for corporate related items including, strategic planning and executive recruitment strategy services.