Amendments to the CPRs

The key amendments to the CPRs will include:

• broadening the requirement for officials to consider environmental sustainability of goods and services. Entities will be required to consider the Australian Government's Sustainable Procurement Guide where there is opportunity for sustainability or use of recycled content;
• broadening the list of examples of whole-of-life costs of goods and services to include environmental sustainability of consumables, and decommissioning, remediation and disposal costs (including waste disposal);
• making it a requirement that non-corporate Commonwealth entities pay suppliers under contracts valued up to A$1 million (including GST), in line with the Supplier Pay On-Time or Pay Interest Policy, following acknowledgement of the satisfactory delivery of goods or services and receipt of a correctly rendered invoice;
• clarification that consideration and management by relevant entities of their procurement security risk should include cyber security risk, in accordance with the Australian Government's Protective Security Policy Framework; and
• a new Appendix A exemption for procurements from Small and Medium Enterprises for procurements valued up to $200,000, noting that the requirements under the Indigenous Procurement Policy must first be satisfied before this exemption is applied.

Other amendments to the CPRs will include:

• making it a requirement that non-corporate Commonwealth entities use the Commonwealth Contracting Suite for contracts under $200,000. Corporate Commonwealth entities are specifically encouraged to apply the suite of templates;
• clarification that procurement does not include arrangements between non-corporate Commonwealth entities (where no other suppliers were approached);
• confirming that reporting obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) apply to officials undertaking procurements; and
• modifications to the procurement and reporting thresholds for the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation.

Next steps

While the amendments to the CPRs have not yet commenced, Commonwealth government agencies will need to be prepared for them to take effect on 14 December 2020.

All relevant entities will need to focus on ensuring their procurement documentation, including existing policies and templates, is aligned to the new rules.

Please get in touch with us if you would like to discuss these new amendments and how they apply.