Our contracts and spending

Find out about procurement at the DTA and how to see a list of our procurement contracts of $100,000 or more, including our non-procurement contracts.

Requests for Tender (over $80,000)

We advertise open tenders and expressions of interest on AusTender.

If you are a seller interested in tendering for opportunities with us, please become a registered seller at the AusTender website. You can register for specific areas of interest, and you will then receive notifications from AusTender.

Other procurements (under $80,000 and panels)

We request quotes and proposals from sellers in various ways. This may be through:

• email direct to sellers
• Dynamic Sourcing for Panels (DS4P) on AusTender
• BuyICT.

Annual Procurement Plan

Our Annual Procurement Plan can be found on the AusTender website.

Procurement terms and conditions

We make payments to sellers for the purchase of goods and services using contracts and corporate credit cards.

A contract details the goods and services we wish to purchase. The contract will include a description of the goods and may also include any delivery dates and a description of the goods or services.

When we enter a contract, it will be either:

• under the Commonwealth’s Contract Terms. The Terms and Conditions can be downloaded from https://www.finance.gov.au/procurement/commonwealth-contracting-suite/
• under the terms and conditions of the Digital Sourcing Contract or
• under the terms and conditions of the relevant panel’s head agreement.

DTA does not issue copies of the purchase order because the contract itself is the request to supply the goods or services. Sellers will always be advised of a contract reference number, and they are required to quote the contract reference number on all invoices connected to a purchase.

Procurement-related complaints

As a seller, you have the right to have complaints investigated quickly and without disadvantage.

Lodging a complaint

It is best to approach the procurement contact officer in the first instance if you have concerns relating to a procurement process and wish to discuss them informally. If you are not satisfied with the outcome from these discussions, you may make a formal complaint.

Please email corporate.procurement@dta.gov.au to lodge a formal complaint. Your email should have as much information as possible, so the DTA conduct a thorough investigation.

Complaints under the Government Procurement (Judicial Review) Act 2018

If you would like to make a complaint under the Government Procurement (Judicial Review) Act 2018 (GPJR Act), you should read the Government Procurement (Judicial Review) Act 2018 Resource Management Guide on the Department of Finance’s website. This will give you information on your obligations as a seller when raising a complaint under the GPJR Act.

Complaints made under the GPJR Act must be made in writing immediately after becoming aware of the alleged breach of the relevant Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs).

Please lodge your complaint to us using the above email.

Once we receive your complaint

Once we receive your written complaint we will:

• acknowledge receipt of your complaint
• advise whether a public interest certificate is in force (if applicable)
• advise you of the expected timeframe for resolution
• investigate the validity of the complaint
• notify you of the outcome of our investigation
• offer a solution if applicable
• confirm with you whether you consider the complaint to be resolved.

If your procurement is a covered procurement under the GPJR Act, the procurement will be suspended, unless there is a public interest certificate in place.

Applications to the court

If you are not satisfied that the complaint has been resolved, you can apply to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia or the Federal Court of Australia for injunctions or payment of compensation for breaches of the relevant CPRs relating to covered procurements under the GPJR Act.

Applications to the court must be made within 10 days of becoming aware of the breach. A longer period may be allowed by the court if it is satisfied that the failure to make the application within this timeframe was attributable to the seller’s reasonable attempt to resolve the complaint.

We recommend you seek independent legal advice before taking this step.

You can also raise a complaint through:

• The Australian Government Procurement Coordinator
• The Commonwealth Ombudsman

See also:

• Commonwealth Procurement Rules

Public Interest Certificates

You can download the DTA’s Public Interest Certificates as issued by our CEO (PDF, 175KB).

Senate Order for Entity Contracts

Under the Senate Order for entity contracts we need to list all procurement contracts of $100,000 or more on the AusTender website.

Contracts in this list are for the period 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022.

All contracts have a value of $100,000 or more and either:

• started during the 2022 calendar year
• did not end by 31 December 2022.

Confidentiality clauses

Most contracts in this list have confidentiality clauses. But we only identify clauses in the list that aren’t general in nature. General clauses protect:

• trade secrets
• proprietary information
• Commonwealth material
• personal information.

Our accountable authority assures the listed contracts don’t have any inappropriate confidentiality clauses.

List of contracts

The list of procurement contracts is on the Senate Order page on the AusTender website.

DTA has no non-procurement contracts to report during the 2022 calendar year.

Our cost

Our estimated cost to comply with this order was $960. This includes staff wages for time spent on:

• data collection
• quality assurance
• administrative support.