General goods and services—templates

Video transcript

Slide 1 General Goods and Services Templates and Conditions of Contract

Hello and welcome to my presentation on the new templates and terms and conditions.

My name is Glenda Blanch and I am the Senior Manager, Strategic Sourcing in General Goods and Services branch in Queensland Government Procurement.

I'd like to start by respectfully acknowledging the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which I present to you today.

I'd also like to pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Firstly let me show you all the ways you can access these documents.

Head to the Forgov webpage that you can see on your screen.

One you're there, you'll see a few different headings.

Under the heading of Finance and procurement, select Procurement.

This will take you to another page with a few more Procurement related headings.

Scroll down to the Procurement resources heading and select Templates (including terms and conditions).

On this page, you'll see the headings General goods and services - templates. Select this heading and it will bring you to a full list of the current templates that are available for General goods and services.

Alternatively, you can type 'general goods and services templates' into the forgov search function and it will provide you with a link to the same page.

You can also search the document name or keywords relating to templates and terms and conditions using the search function for Procurement policies, resources, tools and templates.

Select Procurement resources, then select Search for procurement policies, resources, tools and templates.

Type the document name or keyword, for example, 'request for quote,' and the result will show 'Request for quote template general goods and services.'

Now that you're aware of how to find these documents, let me tell you a little bit more about them.

Slide 2

The previous templates will remain available but have been moved to the previous versions section on the webpage

These templates can be used by any agency including gov owned corporations and statutory bodies

The templates are just that, they are meant to be amended to suite your requirements and your local procurement procedures. 

While the templates can be amended, the terms and conditions should not be altered without first seeking legal advice as the terms and conditions have been approved for Whole of Government use by Crown Law.

Ensure you check with your procurement team and legal teams before using these templates to ensure they meet your business needs.

The templates are a result of consultation and collaboration across Queensland government, if you were part of this process, thank you for your assistance.

In the effort for continuous improvement and to make these documents the best they can be, it is over to all of you now to have your say about the templates and suggest ways to make them better for everyone.

Slide 3

Key changes with the templates are the Parts A, B and C:

• Part A is information about the tender doc
• Part B is the draft Contract Details or SOA Details
• Part C is the response schedule to be completed and returned

This is in line with the current templates in use within the dep of Education which has been well received by suppliers.

There will be separate templates for ITOs for one off procurements and ITOs for SOAs to simplify the use and the amount of changes required in the templates for each different purpose.

The terminology within the documents will not have to be interchanged from the Principal and Eligible Customer to the Customer.

A short form contract details document will be coming back. The short form contract details document will be available for use when required for lower dollar value and lower risk procurements in line with your local procurement procedures.

There is also a range of other templates which will be progressively published to provide guidance and assistance to procurement officers across Queensland.

Slide 4 (definitions and interpretations)

The definitions interpretations document has been updated to include new definitions to provide greater clarity and understanding between the parties and

There are a couple of different elements of that which include:

• Consequential loss
• Correctly rendered tax invoice
• Eligible customer
• Metadata
• Panel
• Conflict of interest
• Claim
• Invitation process and
• Personnel

New policy driven concepts have been included to cover Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander businesses, Social Enterprises, supplier code of conduct and the Ethical Supplier threshold.

Some existing definitions have also been expanded on to provide greater clarity

The changes provide more balance, holding suppliers more accountable for confidentiality and privacy breaches, enabling us to undertake financial viability checks of suppliers and enabling suppliers premises to be inspected to validate compliance with the contract.

We can also undertake personnel background checks

Slide 5 (Summary of changes to conditions)

There’s been a few changes that have been made to try and improve these documents for you.

The first change you will notice is the change to the layout of these documents. These have been changed from two columns to a single page and that is to ensure that these documents can be read across multiple devices. They did not display very well while in column format on a phone or tablet. The layout has been changed for greater readability purposes.

The SOA details document will now be executed as a deed to ensure greater enforceability and clarity on how and when information can be shared and retained.

The changes provide more flexibility and clarity by setting out which documents form the contract or SOA, allowing additional provisions to be added in. Expanding on dispute clauses, allowing flexibility to add and remove suppliers from supply arrangements and allowing ways to transact electronically

New policies and legislation have been incorporated.

Slide 6 (Supplier compliance)

Changes have been made are to ensure supplier compliance with:

• policies,
• supplier code of conduct,
• ethical supplier threshold,
• Industrial relations requirements,
• Notification of convictions – indictable offences
• Best Practice Principles, Modern Slavery, workplace health and safety requirements and
• new legislation including but not limited to Disability Discrimination Act, Modern Slavery Act and the Human Rights Act.

It also enables Show Cause notices to be issued for breaches.

Slide 7 (SOA Conditions)

The new approach to SOA details enables greater enforceability by requiring the Slas to be executed as a deed.

The Supplier can retain confidential information providing it is stored in a secure server for reasonable credit risk insurance, legal and professional responsibility purposes.

The principal can disclose Supplier confidential information if required under the information privacy Act (QLD), Right to information Act, Minister or Parliamentary request. The principle can also unilaterally vary the SOA as a result of Government policy change.

Slide 8 (more balance)

The changes provide more balance in the following areas:

• Consequential losses have been removed for the supplier and the customer
• Provides consequences for breaching confidentiality and privacy – this aligns with QITC
• Reduces supplier indemnity for 3^rd party claims
• Imposes more comprehensive privacy obligations on suppliers this aligns with QITC
• Enables Customers to conduct financial viability checks on suppliers
• Enables customer to remove supplier personnel if they pose a security risk (no reason, no cost). This was previously a restricted element
• Enables the customer to inspect suppliers premises to check contract compliance
• Enables the customer to undertake personnel background checks.

Principal has greater rights in SOA and can vary the SOA as required.

Slide 9 (more flexibility)

The changes provide more flexibility by:

• Clarifying the documents which form the contract
• Enabling additional provisions if aligned with key documents
• Expanding on dispute clauses
• For SOA’s it provides flexibility which enables appointment of additional suppliers and the removal of suppliers to manage the panel size or as required by government policy
• Allowing a way to electronically transact while still remaining compliant with the Corporations Act.

Slide 10

I am happy to receive any feedback on the new templates.

If you start using these templates and you notice something that doesn’t work for you, please let me know because others may be experiencing the same issues.

I am happy to consider any suggested changes and if they improve the template from a whole of government perspective, these changes can be made.

The templates will be updated as required and other templates to assist may be issued over time.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to me and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me via the email address above.