QITC toolkit

A user guide is available to assist Queensland Government agencies to use the Queensland Information Technology Contracting framework – QITC – to procure ICT products and services.

The user guide provides an overview of the four different contract pathways available to agencies under the framework.

It also provides guidance on when to use the different contract types, based on the risk and value of each procurement.

The general contract is recommended for procurements that are $1 million or less and assessed as low risk

The comprehensive contract is recommended for:

• procurements that are more than $1 million and low risk; and
• for procurements assessed as either moderate or high risk of any value.

The standardised general and comprehensive contract conditions have been co-designed by government and industry.

To make procurement simpler and faster, the standard general and comprehensive contracts should be used.

For very high or extreme risk procurements, a bespoke contract should be considered. The terms and conditions in the Comprehensive Contract Conditions and modules should be used as the basis for creating a bespoke contract.

The final pathway is supplier terms and conditions. A Customer may choose to use supplier T&Cs if the cost of the ICT products or services being procured will be $100,000 or less and the procurement is assessed as low risk.

There are separate guidelines available for using supplier T&Cs available on the QITC webpages.

The guidelines explain when T&Cs may be used, the key legal terms to look out for and the risks and issues to consider.

The QITC user guide highlights important contractual issues which are dealt with in a general or comprehensive contract.

These include: Insurance, liability, indemnity, data security and privacy, and many others.

The QITC framework is supported by a Contract type decision tool, which is designed to help Customers select the right contract type for a particular contract based on the risk and value of the procurement.

It is a guidance tool only and you should seek procurement or legal advice if you are unsure of which contract type to use.

The user guide also identifies some risk assessment tools to help agencies to conduct their risk assessments.

Guidance notes have also been developed to help agencies prepare general and comprehensive contracts.

For the comprehensive contract, the guidance notes also include guidance relating to the modules available for use when forming a comprehensive contract.

The modules contain additional contractual terms for seven specific transaction types:

• Hardware
• Software
• As a Service
• Systems integration
• Telecommunications services
• Managed services
• ICT professional services.

There are also 11 schedules available under the comprehensive contract which are listed in the user guide.  The schedules are a collection of optional documents and templates that may be required for a particular contract.

• Price and payment terms (included in the Comprehensive Contract Details)
• Project implementation and payment plan
• Statutory declaration by subcontractor
• Confidentiality, privacy and conflict of interest deed
• Escrow agreement
• Financial security
• Performance guarantee
• Service levels
• Acceptance testing
• Statement of work template
• Change request template.

Visit the QITC webpages to check out the user guide and contract guidance notes - and for more videos to help you navigate the QITC framework.

Under the Queensland Information Technology Contracting framework – QITC – the comprehensive contract pathway is recommended for

• procurements that are over $1 million and are assessed as low risk; and
• procurements assessed as either moderate or high risk, of any value.

A contract type decision tool is available to help you select the right contract type, based on the risk and value of the procurement.

It is a guidance tool only and you should seek procurement or legal advice if you are unsure of which contract type to use.

To create a comprehensive contract, you will need to use:

• the Comprehensive Contract Conditions
• the Comprehensive Contract Details template; and
• any applicable module order forms and schedule templates.

These are all available on the QITC webpages.

To create the contract you will need to complete the Comprehensive Contract Details – using the instructions highlighted throughout the template.

You will also need to identify and complete any applicable modules and schedules, required for the procurement.

There are 7 modules available under the comprehensive contract. They contain additional contractual terms for specific transaction types.

There are also 11 schedules available under the comprehensive contract. They are a collection of optional documents and templates that may be required for a particular contract.

To prepare the contract, you will need to complete any applicable module order forms – using the instructions highlighted in the template documents and attach them and any schedules to the contract details document.

Please refer to the Guidance notes for comprehensive contract details and modules for further guidance on completing the documents.

A comprehensive contract is entered into when the Supplier and Customer execute section 1.2 of the Comprehensive Contract details, titled – Forming the Contract.

By executing the Details, the Supplier is offering to enter the Contract on the terms set out in the Contract and the Customer accepts the Supplier's offer.

Where you are issuing an Invitation to Offer – you should issue the Comprehensive Contract Details, modules and schedules as part of the Invitation to Offer.

If you are not issuing an Invitation to Offer, you should issue the Comprehensive Contract Details, modules and schedules together with the other contract documents to the Supplier at the start of contract negotiations.

Check out the tool kit for more videos and fact sheets about the QITC framework.

Under the Queensland Information Technology Contracting framework – QITC – the general contract pathway is recommended for procurements that are $1 million or less and are assessed as low risk.

A contract type decision tool is available to help you select the right contract type, based on the risk and value of the procurement.

It is a guidance tool only and you should seek procurement or legal advice if you are unsure of which contract type to use.

More information on the different QITC contract types is available on the QITC webpages.

To prepare a general contract, you will need to use the General Contract Conditions and the General Contract Details templates which are available on the QITC webpages.

The General Contract Conditions contain provisions for procurement types that are considered suitable for a general contract, so no specific modules have been developed for use with a general contract.

Instead, the General Contract Conditions contain provisions for specific transaction types.

These are: hardware, hardware maintenance services, licensed software, software support services, developed software, as a service and ICT professional services.

As the documents contain standardised terms and conditions that were co-designed by government and industry, it's accepted that no changes are to be made to the General Contract Conditions.

Various schedules and other documents, including the schedules available under the QITC Comprehensive Contract pathway, may also be tailored and incorporated into a general contract, where needed. Further guidance on this is available in the QITC user guide.

To create the contract you will need to complete the General Contract Details - using the instructions highlighted throughout the template document as a guide.

The QITC framework user guide and the General contract guidance notes, provide further guidance on preparing the documents you need to create a general contract.

Check out the tool kit for more videos and fact sheets about the QITC framework.

As part of the new ICT contracting framework, Queensland Government has published Guidelines for using supplier terms and conditions for ICT products and services.

For certain types of ICT procurement, it may be appropriate to use supplier T&Cs, rather than a government contract.

So it's essential to understand the key legal terms and their potential consequences, before agreeing to them.

Did you know you can become bound to T&Cs simply by accessing a relevant service, paying a supplier or by clicking I agree on a website?

That's why it's essential to get a copy of the T&Cs, review them and seek procurement or legal advice first.

These guidelines have been co-designed by government and industry stakeholders.

The guidelines:

• explain when Supplier T&Cs may be used
• the risks, security implications and potential consequences of agreeing to them
• the practical steps you can take to address these risks; and
• the key legal terms to look out for

Supplier T&Cs should only be considered when the cost of the ICT products or services being purchased are $100,000 or less and the products or services are low risk.

• If the cost is $1 million or less and low risk, use the general contract
• If the cost is more than $1 million and low risk use the comprehensive contract
• If it is moderate or high risk of any value, use the comprehensive contract
• If the project is very high or extreme risk, of any value, a bespoke contract should be developed

It's recommended that the comprehensive contract conditions are used, where possible, as a minimum for forming a bespoke contract.

There are a number of commonly used T&Cs that pose potential risks and you should contact your procurement or legal team for advice before accepting them.

Some of these include:

• Where the supplier will host a volume of personal, sensitive, confidential, commercial-in-confidence or other classified or protected information
• Where you need the supplier to meet binding service levels or other performance levels
• Where the supplier T&Cs require the customer to provide an indemnity
• Where they contain wide exclusions of supplier liability
• Where the government agency wishes to own the intellectual property rights in any material or requires extensive licence rights to supplier material
• Or where supplier T&Cs are governed by the laws of a foreign country.

There are lots of other potential risks and issues to consider.

Check out the guidance for practical examples and to find out more.

Since the 1990s, the Queensland Government has procured ICT products and services through the Government Information Technology Contracting (GITC) framework - a one-size-fits-all model.

In 2015 there were 1,508 accredited GITC suppliers and it is estimated that the Queensland Government signed 1,400 GITC contracts, valued at around $800 million.

Many of the suppliers and ICT products and services available today didn't exist when the framework was created.

Marginal updates to the GITC framework have not allowed it to keep up with the fast pace of innovation and technology development.

A review of the GITC contracting framework took place in 2015.

The purpose was to answer the question "What is the right contracting framework for ICT procurement for Queensland Government?"

Through a series of consultations and co-design workshops with suppliers, legal firms and government representatives, the review concluded a more contemporary approach to ICT contracting was needed.

The aim was to establish a framework that:

• reduces the cost of doing business with government
• enables simple and fast procurement
• provides protection for contracting parties; and
• allows contracts to be formed for emerging and innovative ICT products and services

A framework that provides a choice of contract forms appropriate for the risk and value of each procurement.

We then embarked on the GITC refresh, a 3 stage journey that has led us to where we are today.

It has involved suppliers and government representatives working together to co-design a new framework.

The first stage involved small groups of industry and government stakeholders shaping the key aspects of the framework, ready for broad consultation.

It also brought to light some quick wins to make using the current GITC framework easier.

The second stage was where suppliers and government representatives were invited to be part of the wider consultation.

Over 200 stakeholders were invited to workshops and to take surveys to provide their input and feedback on the key elements of the framework – the contracts, a contract type decision tool, guidelines for using supplier terms and conditions and the approach to transition to the new framework.

To ensure the best outcomes from the consultation, we agreed to hold ourselves to six engagement principles.

The third and final stage is when the new framework is rolled out and the documents are ready for use, acknowledging there are some existing contractual arrangements that will remain until they come to an end.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey. It has been a testament to how we can work together to deliver on efficiencies for both buyers and suppliers in Queensland.