The procurement of goods and services by the Agency is consistent with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules and is based on the principles of value for money, open and effective competition, ethics and fair dealing, accountability and reporting, national competitiveness and industry development and support for other Australian Government policies. These principles have been incorporated into the appropriate internal policies, and Internal Audit conducts probity reviews to help ensure compliance.

The purchase of investment management, investment advisory, master custody and safekeeping services for the purpose of managing and investing the assets of public asset funds are excluded from the mandatory provisions of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.

Annual reports contain information about actual expenditure on contracts for consultancies. Information on the value of contracts and consultancies is available on the AusTender website. Given the Agency’s purpose, no campaign advertising was undertaken during the year and no reportable recruitment costs were incurred.

The Agency engages consultancy services in a variety of areas where specialist expertise is not available within the Agency or where an independent assessment is desirable. This is consistent with the Agency’s outsourced business model. Selection processes may include open tender, selective tender, direct sourcing or the use of a panel.

During 2018-19 28 new consultancy contracts were entered into involving a total actual expenditure of $2,791,783. In addition 11 ongoing consultancy contracts were active during 2018-19, involving total actual expenditure of $579,773.

A summary of expenditure on consultants in 2018-19 is below:

The Agency supports small business participation in the Commonwealth Government procurement market. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Small Enterprise participation statistics are available on the Department of Finance’s website.

The Agency recognises the importance of ensuring that small businesses are paid on time. The results of the survey of Australian Government Payments to Small Business are available on the Treasury’s website.

The Agency’s support for small business includes using the Commonwealth Contracting Suite for procurements under $200,000 in accordance with applicable Department of Finance resource management guidance.