The Department of Finance has developed a new resource of pre-written contract terms for use by procurement officers in contract templates.
To be used with the mandatory Commonwealth Contracting Suite (CCS), the new ClauseBank builds on the CCS by including a range of optional contract clauses for use in higher value contracts.
The Department said the ClauseBank contract terms could be used within existing contract templates or in bespoke contracts by Commonwealth entities when appropriate.
“The terms, which cover a wide range of matters, are optional,” it said.
“To preserve the legal integrity of these pre-drafted contract terms, they should be incorporated without change (except for substituting defined terms like Customer and/or Supplier for the terminology used in the rest of the contract).”
Finance said that capitalised terms (unless otherwise defined) were based on the definitions in the CCS Glossary.
“The terms are not designed to be added to CCS contracts under $200,000 unless specifically noted,” it said.
“If more substantive changes to the wording are proposed, legal advice should be sought to ensure that any change does not impose onerous terms on suppliers or compromise the Commonwealth’s position.”
First Assistant Secretary at Finance, Nicholas Hunt said the new ClauseBank aimed the reduce complexity for suppliers.
“Following public consultation, the first 12 clauses are now available for use,” Mr Hunt said.
“I encourage all contract drafters to review these clauses and use them as and when appropriate.
“Although the public consultation round has closed, there will be further opportunities to add clauses as we expand the ClauseBank in the future.”
The Department’s new 33-page ClauseBank document can be accessed at this PS News link.
