To deliver its programs, the Australian Government awards on average 70,000 contracts each year with an annual total value in the range of $40 billion to $70 billion1. Good contract management is an essential component in achieving value for money for Government procurements.
This guide provides practical process guidance to support effective contract management at a practitioner level for Commonwealth entities. The information contained in this guide provides general advice only, does not form Commonwealth policy, is not a substitute for legal advice and should be read in conjunction with your entity-specific policy or guidance on contract management.
This guide is for the management of commercial contracts for procurements. It may be useful for other arrangements such as grants, memorandums of understanding (MoU) or investments as they generally require similar management activities to the processes in this guide.
Each contract must be managed in accordance with its terms and conditions. Should an issue arise in relation to a specific contract:
• you may want to seek advice from your central procurement area, or
• in some situations, you may want to seek legal advice.
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1 Figures available on the Department of Finance Website, Statistics on Australian Government Procurement Contracts reported from AusTender. These figures only refer to procurements valued at $10,000 and above.