Strategic review of the whole of Australian Government single seller arrangements

Appendix L: Scope

18.1 The below outlines the scope of the strategic review of Single Seller Arrangements (SSAs). 

In scope

• Contracting Model Assessment:
  • Review the structure and thresholds of existing single seller contracts to determine their effectiveness and identify areas for refinement.
• Test the SSAs are consistent with existing government policy settings, including:
  • Value for Money Analysis:
    • Evaluate cost savings, cost avoidance, and non-monetary benefits derived from the sourcing arrangements.
    • Consider efficient, effective, economical and ethical elements.
  • Examine the consistency of the sourcing arrangements with Government policies, strategies and standards, specifically:
    • Procurement: Commonwealth Procurement Rules, Resource Management Guides
    • Digital: Data and Digital Government Strategy, Digital Sourcing Framework, Digital and ICT Reuse Policy
    • Cyber and Security: Protective Security Policy Framework, Secure Cloud Policy, Hosting Certification Framework, 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy
    • Others: Buy Australian Plan, APS Reform Agenda
  • Ecosystem impact evaluation:
    • Assess broader social, economic, and market impacts of the sourcing arrangements, with consideration to sustainability (e.g. Net Zero, Environment Sustainability) and inclusivity (e.g. gender, Indigenous).
    • Determine effectiveness of sourcing arrangements in fostering local economic participation and broader Australian Government policies.
• Conduct a comparative analysis to State, Territory and International sourcing arrangements from other jurisdictions:
  • For domestic comparisons, a selection of States and Territories within Australia.
  • For international comparisons: US, UK, Canada and New Zealand.
• Interviews of:
  • Six SSA entities (AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, Rimini Street, IBM, SAP), and inviting a structured, written submission from these entities.
  • 6-8 Commonwealth government entities across extra-large, large and medium groups to obtain qualitative insights.
  • Other key Commonwealth government entities, including: Finance, Treasury, Home Affairs.
• Survey of all entities as provided by the DTA which can utilise the SSAs using the DTA’s survey tool.
• Consider mechanisms to enhance the Commonwealth's competitive edge:
  • Identifying opportunities to optimise leverage when renewing or establishing new arrangements and methods to enhance competitive tension during procurement to improve negotiation positions.
• Undertake an assessment of the benefits and risks of SSAs:
  • Identify the benefits offered by the arrangements, including those identified in any relevant business cases or procurement plans.
  • Identify unintended consequences such as seller lock-in and compliance risks.
  • Identify potential mitigation strategies.

Out of scope

• Legal or contractual advice or review of any specific clauses of contracts with the SSAs
• Compliance of contracts with legislation or policy, as this is not intended to be an assurance or audit activity
• Implications or consistency with other Government policy not included above (e.g. taxation, trade)
• Quantification of the economic value contributed by SSAs to the Gross Domestic Product (or similar) of Australia
• Review of contracts entered into by buyers under the SSAs.