What we do

We set up and manage coordinated and cooperative procurement intiatives for digital products and services on behalf of the Australian Government.

This means we set up and manage panels and volume sourcing arrangements with digital suppliers. Government agencies then use these suppliers to buy products and services more easily and cheaply.

Panels

Panels are groups of evaluated suppliers or sellers who offer digital products and services that government agencies commonly use.

The panels allow you to buy products and services and enter into contracts under a standard set of terms and conditions.

Each panel holds an open request-for-tender process. We appoint sellers to a panel if they meet the panel’s requirements during that process.

We manage the following panels:

• Telecommunications Services Panel
• ICT Hardware and the Hardware Marketplace
• Mobile Panel
• Data Centre Panel
• Cloud Services Panel
• Digital Marketplace

Volume sourcing arrangements

Volume sourcing arrangements let the government use its buying power to get better prices and terms and conditions. We use this approach for commonly used products and services from suppliers such as IBM, Microsoft,  SAP and Concur.

We’re working on setting up new volume sourcing arrangements to help government agencies save money on other products and services.

We’ll provide more information on our news and blogs page when we set them up.

How to buy digital products and services

Non-corporate Commonwealth entities

Non-corporate Commonwealth entities must use one of our panels or arrangements to buy:

• telecommunications services
• computer hardware
• mobile products and services
• data centres
• Microsoft products
• SAP and Concur products and services

They can use the Cloud Services Panel to buy cloud services such as subscription software, cloud-based platforms, cloud storage and support services. It is not mandatory.

They can use the Digital Marketplace to buy specialist digital services or purpose-built software. 

Corporate Commonwealth entities or state and territory governments

Corporate Commonwealth entities or a state or territory governments can use most of our panels and arrangements and the Digital Marketplace.

Only non-corporate Commonwealth and corporate Commonwealth entities can use the Microsoft Volume Sourcing Arrangement.

Procurement rules

Government agencies need to follow these policies and processes when buying products and services:

• Commonwealth Procurement Rules
• the PGPA Act 2013
• the PGPA Rule 2014
• their organisation’s accountable authority instructions

More information on buying for government is available on the Department of Finance website.

Check with your procurement officer or finance team for more information about procurement rules.

You can also contact the Department of Finance for general policy advice at procurementagencyadvice@finance.gov.au

How we can help

We can help you to:

• use coordinated procurement arrangements
• manage and sign contracts for some services
• use the Digital Marketplace

We will share updates on our news and blogs page.