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FACT SHEET
Government Procurement Review (International Free Trade Agreements) Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to give effect to Tasmania’s commitment to comply with the
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP-11) and
the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA).
The TPP-11 is a free trade agreement between Australia and ten other countries. The
TPP-11 was ratified by the Australian Government on 31 October 2018 and
subsequently came into force in Australia on 30 December 2018. It includes a
Government Procurement Chapter which sets out obligations and rules to be applied in
the conduct of covered government procurements.
In order to comply with its commitment to the Australian Government, the Tasmanian
Government is required to establish a domestic review mechanism.
As a minimum, there must be access to an independent administrative or judicial
authority to receive complaints, take interim measures and award remedies. The
authority does not need to be a new or separate body but is required to have the right
jurisdiction and constitutional power to conduct reviews and provide the remedies
required under the domestic review process.
The Bill:
gives jurisdiction to the Supreme Court of Tasmania to hear procurement
complaints, for relevant procurements;
enables the Supreme Court to grant compensation or issue a declaration for a
breach of an enforceable procurement provision. Compensation is limited to
the reasonable costs incurred in tendering, making a complaint and incurred in
attempting to resolve a complaint;
enables the Supreme Court to grant an interlocutory or interim injunction
before determining an application by an aggrieved supplier; and
provides that an aggrieved supplier must make a complaint to the accountable
authority of a relevant government agency before it can make an application to
the Supreme Court for a declaration. Where a complaint is received, the
complaint must be investigated and the procurement suspended, unless there is
no public interest certificate in force. A public interest certificate may be issued
by an accountable authority if it considers that it is not in the public interest to
suspend the procurement.
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