The investment design document for the Mekong-Australia Program on Transnational Crime is provided for the information of the market and prospective tenderers.

The program as a whole is anticipated to be up to AUD30m in value over eight years (including whole-of-government funding). The value of the contracted management services is estimated to be around AUD6m for the initial term of up to four years, with an option to extend for a further four years, bringing the total value of contracted management services to around AUD12m over eight years.

DFAT anticipates undertaking a Request for Tender via the AusTender website in September/October 2020.

BACKGROUND

Announced by the Minister for Foreign Affairs on 1 August 2019, the program aims to build deeper and stronger cooperation between Australia and Mekong countries to strengthen our collective response to transnational crime threats. Australian law enforcement, security and border protection agencies will work with their regional counterparts to enhance policy development and build capacity in these areas. The program design seeks to bring a more focussed development cooperation approach to key regional challenges and complement existing aid investments in law and justice, cybercrime, and countering human trafficking.

The program aims to build deeper and stronger cooperation between Australia and Mekong Countries to address transnational crime, with a focus on three objectives:

• Better policy analysis, evidence and a stronger information base to assess transnational crime challenges
• Stronger national operational capacities to prevent, detect and address transnational crime
• Enhanced regional coordination (operational, information sharing, border security).

Australia aims to further strengthen relationships between the Mekong countries themselves, and between APS Agencies and Mekong countries, through the provision of timely expert advice and capacity building support. The investment seeks to harness Australia's policy and technical strengths and draw on the expertise on transnational crime and border security in Australia, as well as relevant international expertise.

ATTACHMENTS

• MAP-TNC Policy Brief – September 2020 [PDF 148KB]
• MAP-TNC Policy Brief – September 2020 [DOCX 129KB]

• Selected parts of the draft Investment Design Document [PDF 819KB]
• Selected parts of the draft Investment Design Document [DOCX 1MB]

NOTE

This information is provided for planning purposes only and it does not represent solicitation or constitute a request for proposal, nor is it a commitment to purchase or tender for any described services. The scale, scope and focus of any proposed program may change at any time and is subject to formal approval by the Australian and partner governments before any procurement process will commence. Should a procurement be approved, implementation is expected to commence in February/March 2021. This information is subject to delays, revision or cancellations.