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The bidding process
i Notice
The Commonwealth government and each state and territory government maintain public websites where procurement opportunities must be advertised.
At the Commonwealth level, as part of the CPRs’ requirement to show accountability and transparency in procurement, the CPRs require that each agency publish, by 1 July each year, the agency’s annual procurement plan containing details about planned approaches to market on the AusTender website. AusTender must also be used to publish multi-use list opportunities, open tenders above the procurement threshold and, where practicable, request documentation.
The CPRs also require details about awarded and amended contracts to be published on AusTender if the contract is valued at or over the reporting threshold, which is A$10,000 for non-corporate Commonwealth entities. For prescribed Commonwealth entities bound by the CPRs, the reporting threshold is A$400,000 for procurements other than procurement of construction services, or A$7.5 million (reduced from A$9 million) for procurement of construction services.
ii Procedures
Procurement rules generally require that contracts be awarded to the bid demonstrating the best value for money and otherwise satisfying the conditions of participation.
At the Commonwealth level, if a procurement is above the procurement threshold, the CPRs require that, unless contrary to the public interest, an agency must award a contract to the bidder that the agency has determined:
- satisfies the conditions for participation;
- is fully capable of undertaking the contract; and
- will provide the best value for money, in accordance with the essential requirements and evaluation criteria specified in the approach to market and tender documentation.
It is common for tender terms to give the agency some flexibility in awarding contracts. Tender terms will typically state that the lowest price bid will not necessarily be accepted, and that the customer may exercise discretion to accept a non-compliant or alternate bid, or decide not to proceed at all.
The majority of procurements conducted have online lodgement requirements. For example, at the Commonwealth level most tenders are required to be lodged via AusTender.
Defence procurements will require lodgement via AusTender or other electronic means where appropriate. If, for example, the request for tender documents involves security classified or other sensitive information, then lodgement via hard copy or physical delivery to a tender box may be used.
iii Amending bids
At the Commonwealth level, the CPRs permit customers to change terms applying to the procurement provided all bidders are treated equitably. Where a procurement is above the procurement threshold, additional change notification requirements apply.
The tender terms will usually define the basis upon which final tenders may be changed pre-award. Tender terms will typically give the customer flexibility to discuss proposals with one or more shortlisted bidders and seek further responses from them without needing to go back to excluded bidders.
It could be more difficult for a customer to justify that a significant change made during the preferred bidder stage does not breach procurement rules. For example, if the issued tender terms stated a requirement was mandatory and bidders were excluded for not meeting that requirement, it could be problematic for the customer to keep dealing with a preferred tenderer who, at the preferred bidder stage, said it did not meet the mandatory requirement. This could be unfair to the excluded bidders (and, if so, could breach the procurement rules).
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