Mr Robert asked the Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, in writing, on 3 February 2010:

For sole sourced defence procurement contracts (ones that did not go to tender) in the 2008 and 2009 calendar years, which companies were contracted, what was procured, what equipment was procured and why were tenders not sought.

Mr Combet – The answer to the honourable member’s question is as follows:

Information on the number of sole source defence procurements is not available.  In accordance with the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines (CPGs), Defence collects data on the number of direct source procurements. This has been Defence practice since the January 2005 release of the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines.  Direct source is a broader definition which may include more than one supplier and therefore may be a competitive procurement process. 

Defence would not be able to provide information on why tenders were not sought without dedicating significant resources to the task.  I am not prepared to direct the Department to release such resources. However, it is important to note that even when Defence decides to sole source a procurement, such a decision is required to be made consistently with the fundamental obligation set out in the CPGs (and reflected in the Defence Procurement Policy Manual) to achieve value for money.

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