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Principles
1. Cooperative Procurement is where more than one entity approaches the market together (i.e. clustering) or where
an entity accesses another entitys established contract or standing offer arrangement (i.e.piggybacking). It enables
entities to reduce expenditure by sharing administration costs and utilising their combined economies of scale.
2. Cooperative Procurement may also be referred to as collaborative procurement or multi agency access (MAA) in
planned procurements, approaches to market (ATMs), multi-use lists (MULs) and standing offer notices (SONs)
published on AusTender.
3. Value for money is the key consideration in cooperative arrangements. Entities should assess cooperative
procurement against other procurement options to determine the process that will achieve the best value for money.
4. Entities should consider cooperative procurement options as part of their procurement planning. This includes:
determining if another entitys existing arrangement would provide a better value for money outcome than a
new approach to the market (particularly in maximising market benefits by aggregating the purchase of goods and
services in common use, and delivering savings including reduced costs of tendering);
considering, if an existing arrangement is found to be not suitable, whether there are opportunities to
approach the market cooperatively with one or more other entities through a new procurement process; and
incorporating suitable clauses in the request documentation to enable other entities to access the contract or
standing offer arrangements in future.
5. Specific issues that must be addressed to ensure that cooperative procurement is consistent with
the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs), are:
the approach to market for a cooperative arrangement must specify that it will be accessed by other entities
(preferably naming the entities involved where known) ; and
entities subsequently joining a cooperative arrangement must do so within the scope of the existing
arrangement.
6. Unless there is a legitimate reason to not allow other entities to leverage from a contract, appropriate clauses that
enable multi agency access should be included in the request documentation, and notified to the market.
COOPERATIVE
COORDINATED
Scoping Study
Maybe
Yes
Government
agreed
No
Yes
Entity
participation
Voluntary
Lead entity
Savings
Retained by entities
Size
Procurement
process and
contract
management
Administrative
charge
If agreed by entities
Yes
Practice
Determine whether the goods or services to be purchased are subject to coordinated procurement
arrangements that must be used.
Determine if the relevant entity already has a panel or multi-use list could be used.
Where procurements are unable to be valued or reliably valued, they must be treated as if they are over the
relevant threshold.
Unless a specific exemption applies, entities must comply with the Division 2 Additional rules for
procurements at or above the relevant procurement threshold.
Involves a one-stage (ie Request for Tender), open approach to the market.
Is the default for all procurements valued above the relevant thresholds ($80,000 for non-corporate
Commonwealth entities)
Prequalified Tender
a multi-use list;
a two stage process (even if the Expression of Interest was sought as an open approach to the
o
market); or
o
a list of all potential suppliers with a specific licence or ability to meet a legal requirement that is
essential to the procurement.
Limited Tender
Involves procurement based on quotes being sought directly from one or more suppliers.
Includes what was previously referred to as sole source and select or restricted source procurements.
Can be undertaken for any procurement under the relevant thresholds where it represents value for money.
Can only be used for procurements above the relevant thresholds where it is specifically allowed by the
CPRs. The value and reasons for the direct source must be documented.
Notify the market for open tenders this involves (as a minimum), publishing the opportunity on AusTender[
].
For open and prequalified tenders, ensure the minimum time requirements of the CPRs are met.
Include essential information (eg. closing time, lodgement mechanism, evaluation criteria and methodology,
process rules, contact officer and the possibility of an industry briefing, site visit, and/or mid-term review) in the
request documentation to enable suppliers to develop and lodge competitive and compliant submissions.
Use appropriate limitation of liability and standard contract clauses where available.
Do not use unnecessary mandatory language (i.e. must, will), jargon and acronyms from the request
documentation.
Ensure clarifications or additional materials are made available to all potential suppliers in a timely and
equitable manner.
Do not materially change the evaluation plan after the opening of submissions.
Ensure the procurement process is/was fair, equitable and will stand up to scrutiny, including that the
evaluation is conducted in accordance with the Tender Evaluation Plan.
Ensure the process is consistent with the CPRs, including in relation to handling complaints.
Provide sufficient documentation and information to the delegate to enable them to make an informed
decision.
If required by your entity's Accountable Authority Instructions, obtain delegate approval in accordance with
s18 of the PGPA Rules and two signed copies of the contract (one for the entity, the other for the service provider).
].
Develop a contract management plan to assist the entity to understand and implement obligations under the
contract.
Assess contract extension options on a value for money basis in accordance with the terms of the contract.
Ensure compliance with the Procurement On-Time Payment Policy for Small Business.
Consider any obligations that survive the contract end-date or termination of the contract such as
confidentiality.
Last updated: 29 May 2015