Commonwealth Government Procurement Essentials

Whether you are a legal professional or procurement officer, equip yourself with the tools and knowledge to drive best practice procurement and optimise your procurement processes while managing risks and liabilities. Understand the risks and issues that may arise with incumbent providers, unpack the theory and practical application of negotiation in Commonwealth procurement, and review the debarment regimes and tips on choosing the right evaluation criteria when assessing tenders to achieve a value for money outcome.

Monday, 24 March 2025
Description

Attend an earn 3 CPD units including: 
2 units in Substantive Law 
1 unit in Professional Skills  
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories

Chair:

Philippe Lambert, Principal Consultant, Lambert & Co

1.00pm to 2.00pm The Tyranny of Incumbency – Does Familiarity Breed Contempt

 

  • Incumbency in tendering
  • What is the issue with incumbents and is it really an advantage?
  • Early identification and procurement planning
  • Can an entity engaged to assist with an early stage: bid for the main procurement
  • Intellectual property issues with incumbent contractors: who owns what
  • Extensions and variations under the procurement rules
  • Other issues:
    • Data rooms and data room access agreements
    • Deeds of confidentiality
    • Tranistion in/ transition out 

Presented by Scott Alden, Partner, Mills Oakley 

3.15pm to 4.15pm The Debarment Regimes in Procurement: How They Work and Choosing the Right Evaluation Criteria

 

In conducting any procurement you are seeking a value for money outcome.  To achieve this you need to select the right evaluation criteria. 

  • Commonwealth/State/Territory policy mandatory pass/fail criteria
  • Relevant debarment regime
  • Customer essential pass/fail criteria
  • Appropriate evaluation criteria to rank tenderers with a view to achieving value for money
  • Consideration of technical criteria
  • Consideration of financial criteria
  • Consideration of risk
  • Putting the pieces together
  • Mitigating a challenge from a disgruntled tenderer. 

Presented by Alexandra Wedutenko, Partner, Sparke Helmore Lawyers 

Professional Skills
2.00pm to 3.00pm Negotiation: Theory and Practical Application in Commonwealth Procurement

 

  • Negotiation theory: positional bargaining versus principled negotiation
  • Practical application: negotiations in a Commonwealth procurement policy context
  • Lessons learned and practical examples   

Presented by Rory Alexander, Partner, Aldermane; and James Evans, Associate, Aldermane 

3.00pm to 3.15pm Afternoon tea

Presenters


Philippe Lambert, Principal Consultant, Lambert & Co
Philippe Lambert provides in-house legal and commercial services to an Australian IT startup (RONIN) that is revolutionising cloud computing services for individual user and is rapidly becoming a global enterprise, and a consulting firm (Inspired Corporation). He has more than two decades of experience working with the Federal Government and private sector, including as a consultant for implementing new supplier engagement models under Defence's First Principles Review (FPR). He has extensive procurement, contracting (including ASDEFCON and SourceIT), commercial and legal expertise. Philippe has also developed and delivered in-house bespoke procurement training in partnership with CIPSA. His experience includes: Charles Kendall Australia - Procurement Director, including leading multiple successful industry bid teams and complex multi stage tender development and evaluations for the Commonwealth; Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) - Deputy Counsel: trusted legal advisor to DMO's Senior Leadership Group (SLG); Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO): Executive Director Contracting establishing and developing DMO's procurement and contracting functions; UK Ministry of Defence (UKMOD): leading innovative procurements; Australian Taxation Office (ATO) - Contract Manager for ATO's outsourced IT 'Change Program'; and Sparke Helmore Lawyers - Commercial Legal Advice.


Scott Alden, Partner, Mills Oakley
With over 25 years of experience, Scott specialises as a legal advisor on significant projects and procurements for government clients. Scott’s role of lead advisor to significant projects often incorporates legal and procurement expertise on the same transaction, as well as strategic probity advice. In recognition of his position as a leading government lawyer, Scott was one of the first Law Society Accredited Specialists in Government and Administrative Law, both Commonwealth and State (with a focus on government commercial and procurement transactions), and has been appointed by the Law Society of NSW as the Head Assessor for that Specialist Accreditation this year. Scott also writes and lectures two procurement courses for the Masters Programs at both College of Law and the University of Melbourne. Scott is currently on an international committee that is in the process of drafting international Modern Slavery guidelines. He is experienced in drafting and implementing key project documents including market sounding/engagement documents, industry briefings, RFTs, tender evaluation plans, tender evaluation reports, commercial


James Evans, Associate, Aldermane


Rory Alexander, Partner, Aldermane


Alexandra Wedutenko, Partner, Sparke Helmore Lawyers
A leading Government and ICT lawyer as voted by Best Lawyers Australia and Chambers Asia-Pacific, Alexandra Wedutenko has an enviable reputation for her success in strategic procurement data protection and governance. Specialising in complex services agreements in a regulated environment, ICT, select sourcing and business process sourcing, Alexandra has acted for a range of private sector and government clients. She acts for and understands the requirements of clients in industries where security and availability of supply are critical. In this regard Alexandra regularly advises on risk identification and management, data protection and cyber security issues.

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Commonwealth Government Procurement Essentials

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DELIVERY MODE BELOW

Single Session
Monday, 24 March 2025
1.00pm to 4.15pm Australia/Brisbane
CPD Points 3
$420.00
$294.00
Online 20241213 20250324

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