Defence: Consultancies

Senator Barnett asked the Minister for Defence, upon notice, on 2 July 2009:

1. (a) Since November 2007, what is the total number of: (i) completed, and (ii) ongoing, consultancies in the portfolio/agency; and (b) for each consultancy: (i) who is the consultant, (ii) what is the subject matter, (ii) what are the terms of reference, (iii) what is its duration, (iv) what will it cost, and (v) what is the method of procurement ( i.e. open tender, direct source, etc.).
2. Can copies be provided of all the completed consultancies.
3. (a) How many consultancies are planned or budgeted for: (i) 2009, and (ii) 2010; (b) have these been published in the Annual Procurement Plan on the AusTender website; if not, why not; and (c) in each case, what is the: (i) subject matter, (ii) duration, (iii) cost, (iv) method of procurement, and (v)  name of the consultant if known.

Senator Faulkner - The answer to the honourable senator’s question is as follows:

1.  
   1. Information on Defence Consultancies are reported by financial year in the Defence Annual Report in accordance with statutory reporting requirements.  Due to the quantity of consultancies and complexity of data collection, it is not cost effective for Defence to separate consultancies for the 2007-08 financial year.
      1. (i),(ii) The number of new contracts let by financial year was:
         

         	Defence	DMO	Total
         2007-08 Volume of Contracts Let	788	129	917
         2008-09 Volume of Contracts Let*	521	47	568
         Total			1,485

         
         *Unaudited
      1. For 2007-08, the name of consultants are listed in the Defence Annual Report and for 2008-09 please see Attachment A.
      2. For 2007-08, the subject matter is listed in the Defence Annual Report and for 2008-09 please see Attachment A.  Terms of reference for consultancies are not centrally collected and I am not prepared to authorise the commitment of resources required to provide a detailed response.
      3. The duration of consultancies is not maintained on Defence systems and I am not prepared to authorise the commitment of resources required to provide a detailed response.
      4. For 2007-08, the cost of consultancy contracts let is listed in the Defence Annual Report and for 2008-09 please see Attachment A.  A summary is provided in the following table:
         

         	Defence	DMO	Total
         2007-08 Value of Contracts Let	$81.9 million	$13.9 million	$95.8 million
         2008-09 Value of Contracts Let*	$62.4 million	$5.4 million	$67.8 million
         Total			$163.6 million

         *Unaudited
      5. For 2007-08, the method of procurement is listed in the Defence Annual Report and for 2008-09 please see Attachment A.
2. Given the number of contracts involved, it would not be practical or cost effective to provide copies of completed consultancies.
3. Consultancies are undertaken on an as required basis to provide specialist advice to responsibility managers across the Defence portfolio. Defence does not centrally collate budget information at the level of detail requested and I am not prepared to authorise the commitment of resources required to provide a detailed response.
   

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