DFAT's practice is that organisations can participate in the planning or design or evaluation of a DFAT project and then bid for subsequent work for that same project. An organisation (incumbent) can also participate in a bid for subsequent phases of a project it is already managing.

Background

Rule 10.8 of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules states:

1. “Relevant entities must ensure that potential suppliers and tenderers are dealt with fairly and in a non-discriminatory manner when providing information leading to, or following, an approach to market. Relevant entities must promptly reply to any reasonable request from a potential supplier for relevant information about a procurement, and when responding to such enquiries must avoid a potential supplier, or group of potential suppliers, gaining an unfair advantage in a competitive procurement process.”

Paragraph 4 of Traps in Ethics and Probity in Procurement by the Department of Finance, states:

“It is not always essential or advisable for potential tenderers to be required to excuse themselves from participating in a tender for which they have either previously assisted (eg. Planning and scoping work) or have been previously contracted due to a perceived unfair competitive advantage being gained by such potential tenderers.  Rather, agencies may seek, if possible, to take appropriate measures to establish a level playing field for other tenderers (such as through the provision of comprehensive information through physical and/or electronic data rooms).”

DFAT’s policy on defining and managing conflicts of interest is in its Ethics, Integrity and Professional Standards Policy Manual.

DFAT’s practice: foreign assistance procurement

DFAT provides advance notice of upcoming major procurements through its Development Procurement Pipeline and through its Business Notifications ensuring all potential bidders have access at the same time to possible procurements. When a procurement is released it is done so through the Government’s central platform AusTender, and DFAT uses additional channels to raise awareness of the procurement such as the DFAT Suppliers Network on LinkedIn.

DFAT practice for foreign assistance procurement is a two-step collaborative procurement. The first step is a request for expression of interest, requiring a short capability-based response from bidders. From the request for expressions of interest DFAT generates a shortlist of capable bidders. The contact details for shortlisted organisations are provided in the Development Procurement Pipeline.

The second step is a request for tender to shortlisted organisations only. Prior to the second step, shortlisted organisations are briefed by DFAT through a collaborative process to ensure all shortlisted organisations have access to the same information.

Once a procurement is live (from issue of the RFEOI), all enquiries from outside DFAT must be made via the contact details as advertised with the procurement. If an organisation contacts DFAT through any other means it may be considered as Collusive Tendering or Improper Assistance and its expression of interest / tender may be rejected.

DFAT practice for foreign assistance procurement evaluation includes independence both in the evaluation and in providing probity services.

DFAT’s practice: contractor support to planning, design, or evaluation

It is important to have a rigorous and defensible selection process for external persons or organisations involved in project preparation, and to ensure value for money.

All external persons or organisations will have confidentiality requirements in their contracts; however, DFAT program areas should check that these are adequate for the task and apply Deeds of Confidentiality to emphasise the confidentiality requirements.

DFAT programs should ensure a requirement in these contracts for reporting to DFAT if these persons or organisations are considering bidding on the opportunity, or being involved in proposals. Program areas should then notify DFAT's Development Procurement, Agreements and Systems (DVB) and consideration will be given to if additional measures need to be put in place.

Further information

For further information, contact aid.contracts@dfat.gov.au

DFAT has a complaints handling guideline in relation to DFAT procurements, including the conduct of the process or outcome.