QGPC calls for consistent contract clauses
The key strategic body for whole-of-government procurement, the Queensland Government Procurement Committee (QGPC), needs all agencies to consistently use template contract clauses to support the Queensland Government Procurement (QGP) Compliance Branch.
In June, I reported on the challenges faced when contracts without these clauses fail to give the QGP Compliance Branch authority to access and share information required for audits, investigations and to present non-compliance matters to the Tripartite Procurement Advisory Panel (the Panel).
Specifically, the QGPC “noted the importance of the Ethical Supplier Mandate (the Mandate) and Ethical Supplier Threshold (the Threshold) and endorses the consistent application of template contract clauses and Deed Poll that help procuring agencies and the QGP Compliance Branch ensure supplier compliance with the Mandate and Threshold.”
Remember, there’s no legislative authority for procurement compliance. Therefore, it’s the job of the procurement contract – through consistent use of the template contract clauses – to bind suppliers to their Best Practice Principles (BPP), Mandate and Threshold responsibilities.
A review and update of the Building Construction and Maintenance (BCM) managing contractor suite of contracts and the template contract clauses has been completed to support this.
With these template contract clauses correctly in place, the QGP Compliance Branch can:
- access supplier records (either managing contractor or sub-contractor) for the purposes of assessing compliance with the Mandate and Threshold (for example, pay records for industrial relations commitments, employee records for local employment commitments, training, and apprentice records)
- access supplier regulator history to measure compliance with the work, health and safety component of BPP commitments and to access Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) records
- share relevant information such as key investigation milestones and information relating to penalties imposed (within privacy legislation restraints) as required.
You can find the updated BCM managing contractor suite here and I encourage those responsible for developing and managing contracts in the BCM category to review and use them.
BCM will collaborate with the QGP Compliance Branch to ensure these updates are replicated across the full contract suite. We will work the Transport Infrastructure and Services (TIS) category to include them in TIS contracts.
The intention is consistent best practice compliance across whole-of-government procurement and procurement policy.
Chris Perkins
Executive Director
Queensland Government Procurement – Compliance
Department of Energy and Public Works