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It’s our responsibility to make sure our procurement process has integrity, is transparent and supports accountability.
Probity Advisors and Probity Auditors
We will ask for help from a Probity Advisor and/or Probity Auditor when a procurement has:
- an expected value over the life of the contract of $5 million or more for goods and services and $10 million or more for works or
- for contracts of a lessor value, where a proposed contract the Procurement Team considers (in consultation with the relevant Director) high risk, complex or sensitive in nature, politically sensitive or subject to a high degree of public scrutiny.
We will also ask for help from a Probity Advisor and/or Probity Auditor when a procurement has:
- an expected value of $1 million or more for goods and services
- an expected value of $2 million or over for works and:
- is high risk; or
- is considered to be complex or sensitive in nature by the Executive Leadership Team; or
- is considered politically sensitive or under a lot of public scrutiny.
Conflicts of interest
Everyone involved in the procurement process must work to avoid conflicts of interest, declare any actual or potential conflicts of interest if they happen and follow their relevant Code of Conduct.
This includes:
- Councillors
- council employees
- consultants
- contractors
- suppliers.
Canvassing
Canvassing is when suppliers talk to a number of people connected with Council and try to persuade them to take a certain action or make a certain decision. In our procurement process, we don’t allow potential suppliers to talk about the tender, quote or contract with anyone other than the nominated contact person. If the potential supplier tries to talk to Councillors, employees, consultants or third-party agents about any part of the tender, quote or contract, we may disqualify them from the process.
Gifts and benefits
No one involved in the procurement process can accept a gift or benefit in return for a decision to award a contract to a certain supplier.
If a gift or benefit is offered, it needs to be declared and managed in line with our policies and processes.
Accountability
Everyone involved in the procurement process must understand their Code of Conduct obligations, the laws that apply and what they are responsible for. This includes any third parties supporting the procurement process. We’ll also publish basic details for all relevant procurement outcomes on our website each month.
Governance, risk and controls
We have set up structures and processes to make sure all procurement decisions:
- are accountable
- have relevant paperwork that clearly identifies why we made certain decisions and how we reached our final decision.
You can read our criteria for procurement governance, risk and controls, including the complaints management process, in our guidelines below.
Risk management
We complete all our procurement in line with our risk management framework. This helps to protect and improve our ability to:
- prepare for risks
- respond to risks
- recover from risks.
This includes risks and issues related to:
- work health and safety
- personal injury
- property damage
- reputation damage
- financial exposure
- business interruption
- climate change
- intellectual property disputes
- interruption to the supply of goods, services and works.
How we manage the process within Council
Our procurement process includes regular internal audits and audits by the Council Strategic Procurement and Contracts Team.
We also make sure there’s:
- more than one person involved in, and responsible for, the procurement process and the contract
- a clearly documented audit trail for all procurement activities
- appropriate and documented authorisation from the person who’s approved the supplier
- a system in place to monitor and measure performance.
Authority to approve contracts, agreements and spending
The authority to approve the creation of contracts and agreements, as well as approve spending, must be in line with our:
- Instrument of Delegations – When Council hands over its delegation powers, duties and functions to the CEO, who then then sub-delegates to the directors and/or general manager.
- Procurement Authority Limits – When the directors and/or general manager gives authority to other staff.