G. Consultants

Consultants are engaged to provide professional, independent and expert advice or services where we need specific expertise or where independent assessments or input are considered desirable. We select consultants in the same way that we procure other goods and services. Details of trends in consultancies are shown in table 8.7.

In 2008–09 we spent a total of $1.71 million on consultancies: $120,209 on three existing consultancies and $1.59 million on twenty-five new consultancy contracts.

Some basic information about consultancy contracts let during the year to a value of $10,000 or more appears in Figure 8.8.

More information about our expenditure on consultancies is available on the AusTender website at www.tenders.gov.au.

Table 8.7: Trends in consultancies*

	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09
No. of existing consultancies	4	11	4	3
No. of new consultancies	69	97	15	25
Total consultancies	73	108	19	28
Total expenditure	$3.5m	$4.4m	$0.7m	$1.7m

* Historical data is taken from the previous year’s annual reports and may understate consultancy expenditures and values to some extent due to definitional changes. It also includes activity related to APEC 2007 between 2005 and 2007.

Consultancies let with a value of $10,000 or more

Many individuals, partnerships and corporations provide services to agencies under contracts for services. However, not all contractors are consultants for the purposes of annual reporting. More information on what constitutes a consultancy is available from www.finance.gov.au/publications/fmg-series/15-guidance-on-procurement-publishing.html#appendixc

The contract price includes the goods and services tax, where appropriate. It is the original agreed contract price unless actual expenditure has gone over this price due to changes in project scope, or if no fixed price could be set. In this case, we have marked the price with an asterisk (*) and shown the actual expenditure.

The selection process nominated for each contract is consistent with the processes outlined in the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines. Following is a brief explanation of each process:

• Open tender (OT) — a procurement procedure in which a request for tender is published inviting all businesses that satisfy the conditions for participation to submit tenders. Public tenders are sought from the marketplace using the Australian Government AusTender internet site.
• Select tender (ST) — a procurement procedure in which the procuring agency selects potential suppliers to be invited to submit tenders.
• Direct source (DS) — a form of restricted tendering, available only under certain circumstances defined in the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines, with a single potential supplier or suppliers contracted.
• Panel (P) — an arrangement under which a number of suppliers, usually selected through a single procurement process, may each supply property or services.

The justification for the decision to use a consultancy is one of the following:

1. Need for independent research or assessment
2. Need for specialised or professional skills
3. Skills currently unavailable within department.

This is the key used in the ‘Justification’ column in Figure 8.8.

Figure 8.8 – Consultancies with a value of $10,000 or more.

Consultant name	Description	Contract price	Selection method	Justification
OUTPUT GROUP 2 – SOCIAL POLICY
Queensland University of Technology	Research to inform potential reform of the not-for-profit sector	$21,000	DS	B
University of New South Wales	Research into policy proposals to address the needs of jobless families	$30,000	DS	B
Open Mind	Research on communicating social inclusion	$79,964	ST	B
Peter Noonan Consulting Pty Ltd	Strengthening the purchasing of local capacity for high level research and development for the APS	$61,998	DS	B
OUTPUT GROUP 3 – INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL SECURIT Y POLICY
Noetic Solutions Pty Ltd	National security education and training scoping study	$319,660	OT	A
Mr J Ferguson	Develop report and analyse options for collaborative rugby union initiatives in the Pacific	$20,000	ST	B
Frankadvice Pty Ltd	Planning and strategy for information management within the Australian national security community	$49,500	ST	B
Martin Brady	Review of the operation of connectivity in the national security community	$44,000	ST	B
Allen Consulting Group	Development of a contextual differences framework	$76,500	ST	B
Allen Consulting Group	Application of contextual differences to national agreements	$26,248	DS	B
OUTPUT GROUP 4 – STRATEGIC POLICY
McKinsey and Company	Provide strategic Australian industry policy advice	$990,000	DS	B
Regina Hill Effective Consulting Pty Ltd	Specific advice on development for the Australia 2020 plan	$15,492	DS	B
Australian Government Solicitor	Probity advice	$15,268	ST	B
CORPORATE (NOT ATTRIBUTABLE TO ANY SPE CIFIC OUTPUT )
Australian Government Solicitor	Probity advice	$47,950	ST	B
Allan Gilbert Henderson	Review matters relating to the allocation of staff employed under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act	$39,600	ST	A
Blake Dawson	Legal Services	$50,000	ST	B

• Next Page: H. Freedom of Information
• Previous Page: F. Purchasing

Top