DFAT may have a requirement for a Contractor to manage a third phase of the Australian Water Partnership (AWP), DFAT’s global water resource management program. The AWP mobilises Australia’s internationally-recognised expertise in water management to support our international development and foreign policy objectives. The program has completed one phase ($24 million 2015-19) and is now in its second phase ($30 million 2019-24). It is anticipated that a third phase would total $30million over five years (2024-2028).

Since its inception in 2015, AWP has drawn together over 200 Australian public, private, and academic partners to deliver technical assistance projects to strengthen water management overseas. Projects have been delivered in over 30 countries in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. Projects have ranged in scale and ambition, from short-term technical assessments of water security threats, to multi-year capacity development projects.

DFAT is currently planning the third phase of AWP and may approach the market through a two-step procurement process in mid-2023. A Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) in July 2023 would be Step-1 of a two-step procurement process. A failure to respond to the REOI would result in a potential respondent not being invited to participate in the subsequent Request for Tenders (RFT) Step-2 of a Procurement. An RFT for the Phase III AWP would be issued in September 2023 with mobilisation to commence 2024.