Department of the Environment and Heritage Annual Report 2003-04
Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2004
ISSN 1441 9335
Management and accountability (continued)
Purchasing
The Department's purchasing activities are undertaken in accordance with the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines and Best Practice Guidelines.
Current departmental purchasing benchmarks are as follows:
- Up to $20: petty cash expenditure allowed for any one purchase.
- Up to $2000: quotes are not required, but may be advisable if it is believed there is a possible material disparity between suppliers.
- $2001-$5000: at least three competitive verbal quotes should be obtained.
- $5001-$100 000: at least three competitive written quotes should be obtained. All requirements must be adequately specified.
- Over $100 000: open competition (see below) should be sought for all purchases.
Open competition should ensure transparency in the procurement process, including access to opportunities for potential suppliers. The Department should put effort and research into encouraging competition in order to get the best possible results from the market.
All purchases valued over $100 000 are subject to review by the Departmental Procurement Review Board, however if a Senior Executive Service decision-maker considers that a purchasing transaction below this threshold is particularly complex or controversial, then these instances should also be referred to the Procurement Review Board.
Information on endorsed supplier arrangements is available from the Department of Finance and Administration.
During the year, the Department's Procurement Review Board examined 31 submissions from the Canberra-based divisions for contracts over $100 000. The board ensured that all aspects of the Commonwealth procurement guidelines and the Department's procurement requirements were adequately met.
The Department's policy and procedures were reviewed and amended in relation to Regulation 10, in line with the Minister for Finance and Administration's amendment of delegations under the Financial Management and Accountability Regulations. The Department put in place a system to enable six-monthly reporting to the Department of Finance and Administration about all projects requiring Regulation 10 authorisation.
The Department met the requirement to report on the Senate Order on Government Agency contracts. All contracts over $100 000 are listed at www.deh.gov.au/about/contracts.
In May 2004, the Department commenced advertising open government business opportunities via AusTender, the Australian Government online system for notifying publicly available business opportunities. The Department also began to examine the possibility of electronically completing all procurement evaluations over $100 000.
The Department continued to encourage suppliers to accept payments by electronic funds transfer. During 2003-04, 92.4 per cent of the total value of supplier payments was made electronically.
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