Offering a centralised location for Australian Government business opportunities, the AusTender website should be an essential tool in your procurement and tendering activities.
If your company has decided to start tendering for more business, and government contracts are your goal, this platform is one of the first places your searches should begin.
What is AusTender?
AusTender is the Australian Government website that promotes details of current and future government procurement tenders, business opportunities, and contracts.
AusTender helps private businesses engage with government agencies to respond to tenders and to access previous procurement contracts. The site contains multiple types of tender notifications and references.
Planned Procurements (PPs):
Planned Procurements provide businesses with advance notice of when government agencies are planning to go to market for goods or services.
Approach to Market (ATMs):
Approach to Market is a collection of tender notice sub-types, each inviting potential suppliers to participate in annual procurement plans offered by government agencies or agencies.
Contract Notices (CNs):
Contract Notices show details of the contracts awarded by Australian Government agencies.
Standing Offers (SOs):
Standing Offer Notices are details of a particular type of contract, commonly called Procurement Panels, where a government agency (or agencies) selects a number of suppliers to provide goods or services.
How does AusTender work?
The site provides the ability to search the publicly available Australian Government business opportunities and plan to purchase the products or services they offer. Suppliers can download tender documents and send responses to the company’s secure website or online.
Information on the site is readily available using the Advanced Search facility or from the “Contracts by Publish Date” report. Alternatively, you can use the “All Agencies” report for the previous periods you are interested in.
Getting started with AusTender
Now that you have a good understanding of the general type of information found on AusTender, let’s go through the process of getting started and which sections you will be looking for.
Create an AusTender login
While you can browse much of the information on the site without needing to log in, we do recommend signing up for an account as it allows you to save contracts, and your favourite searches, as well as receive notifications for new business opportunities and annual procurement plans that may be published.
Once you’ve created a user account and logged in, you’ll want to spend some time exploring and familiarising yourself with the site. Let’s dive in.
How Do I Use AusTender?
As you’ve probably realised by now, there is a wealth of information contained on AusTender, and you don’t want to miss something crucial for your business, so make sure you sign up for email notifications of new business opportunities relevant to you.
Using the main navigation menus at the top of the site, here’s a deeper look at getting started with your search.
Approach to Market
An Approach to Market (ATM) is any notice inviting potential suppliers to participate in procurement which may include a Request for Tender, Request for Quote, Request for Expression of Interest, Request for Information or Request for Proposal.
Some of these types of tender may not lead directly to business opportunities, but they can be used to begin a relationship with a client, for example, a Request for Expression of Interest, or Request for Information.
Top tips:
- Search here for potential tenders by keywords, such as helicopters, IT infrastructure, or recruitment.
- Also, play around with different search criteria and you will quickly work out the more valuable terms and combinations suitable for your company or industry.
If there are a lot of tenders within your search term, adjust the sort by button by ‘Closing Date and Time – ascending’ to find the tenders that are closing soon and work through this list.
And if you are looking for a particular tender, you can also find its details by searching for its individual ATM ID number, a reference number carried by every tender listed on the site.
Do note that while AusTender is a centralised publication of Australian Government tenders, there are some search terms that will direct you to another website if the related tenders fall under the control of another agency. For example, a search for “cyber security” tenders will send you to the Digital Transformation Agency which handles tenders in this realm.
Contract Notices
A Contract Notice (CN) is reported on AusTender as a result of a contract being awarded by an Australian Government agency at or above the relevant reporting threshold value of $10,000 (inc. GST) for the majority of Australian Government entities. A Contract Notice displays details of the contract, including the contract period, value, and the supplier.
The first search term is Contract Notices with a drop-down box. Click on any of the dates in the drop-down box and you will see all CNs published within that date range. This information will help you plan for future tenders: use this CN information to understand the approximate price (ie. price range) that you would need to offer in order to win a future tender of the same products and services.
The following search criteria will probably be more fruitful in your searches. Here you can search by keyword, even selecting “exact word”, “all of the word” or “‘any of the words”. By choosing these you widen or broaden your search.
Top Tip:
- At the beginning of your searches, use different search terms to learn the terminology and types of tenders your business could bid for. For example, if you sell a product that has a well-recognised brand name, try putting its brand name in the search function. You will quickly get an idea of the keywords to use.
Once your knowledge and skills in using the AusTender improve, you will be able to use the site’s more advanced search criteria to your advantage.
Standing Offers
Standing Offer Notices are reported on AusTender when a standing offer arrangement is established. This arrangement is a continuing offer to a supplier or suppliers to provide specified goods or services over a nominated period and includes Panels. The SON displays the details of the arrangement, including participating suppliers and agencies.
As these pieces of business have already been contracted out, this area is useful for competitive research. Also, in some cases, government agencies re-open Panels to new entrants as a method to ensure the Commonwealth is always getting the best value for money in the market.
Planned Procurements
This area of the website is where you can see future procurement plans for various government departments. This is useful for your planning purposes, and it gives you the contact details of the tender provider so you can contact them and start meeting and positioning your company for future opportunities.
What Is the Tender Process? (Actually)
Use the keyword function or the drop-down category to select the type of product or service your business is interested in. You can select several at once.
Your search will produce a list with a brief description on the left-hand side. Use these descriptions to decide which you want to look at. Once you have your list, download the results and you have a list of potential tenders that your business can plan and work on building a relationship with the relevant contacts and government departments.
It must be noted here that these planned procurement notices are for planning purposes only and do not constitute a request for proposal.
Top tip:
- Add the Planned Procurement to your watchlist by clicking the star icon on the top right of each PP.
Senate Order
This section is where all the awarded contracts are listed to comply with the requirement of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.
This is a rich source of information: you can see which companies were awarded which contracts and the value of the contract. It provides the start of your competitor analysis so you can predict the types of companies your business may be up against in future tenders, and what the competitive pricing was for that contract.
It is listed by the Commonwealth entity so it may be time-consuming to find the types of tenders for your business. However, they are in Excel format, so you are able to download them and can use Excel search functions. You can hide/remove rows and columns to help narrow the volume of information that is relevant to your business.
- Search under the Tab, Approach to Market to find any relevant tenders your business may be interested in responding to.
- Download all the relevant information pertaining to the tender your business is interested in.
- Have the team read and understand the tender documents properly, focusing on the tender criteria.
- Go through each of the tender criteria and assess how your company’s solutions can potentially meet these criteria.
Frequently Asked Questions about AusTender
Is AusTender the site to find open tenders?
While there are many websites listing open tenders, including third-party commercial offerings, and state or regional government sites, AusTender is the best site to find information about proposed, released and contracts awarded by the Australian Government at a federal level.
Tender websites: where to source and find tenders in Australia
Where can I find the best government contracts?
As you use the AusTender website and become familiar with how things are classified, arranged and available, you can narrow your own search criteria to find the right business opportunities suitable for your company.
And once you have found a tender to respond to, the real work of planning begins!
Do I need Austender Reporting?
Austender reports allow you to search for information on contracts awarded and standing notices awarded in the past. This is a great way to research your competitors and win tenders.
Our top tip when you’re first getting started on Austender is to spend some time looking through the reports to see which types of procurement contracts are relevant to your business and industry.
What are Austender Panels?
Austender Panels offers government buyers a standard and streamlined approach to sourcing their goods and services from panels (a list of current Panel by Panel buyers).
A Panel lists detailed information about each of the Panel’s approved goods and services (and their capabilities), empanelled suppliers, participants and authorised agencies and access to panel documents.
Buyers can search for and shortlist relevant suppliers that match their requirements, and access panel documents and templates. Once they have shortlisted suppliers, they can run requests for quote processes.
What will it cost to access AusTender?
There is no charge to sign up or download tender documentation from AusTender.
Can I stop using AusTender at any time?
Yes: simply delete your account from the website.
Can I check to see who has been the successful tenderer for an ATM?
Yes, under the Contract Notices section on the AusTender website, you’ll find reports of contracts awarded by Australian Government agencies. These contracts are at or above the relevant reporting threshold value of $10,000 (inc. GST) for the majority of Australian Government entities.
Where there is a continuing offer to a supplier or suppliers to provide specified goods or services over a nominated period, such as annual procurement plans, you’ll find these under the Standing Offer Notices section. The relevant notice displays the details of the arrangement, including participating suppliers and agencies.
Is AusTender content sourced elsewhere? Do I need to use it?
The content on Austender is sourced from the relevant government departments publishing the tender. While you may be able to source it on third-party sites, this is the most accurate portal on Australian government contracts, so we would advise using the platform as your primary lookup for the information.
Who is responsible for AusTender content? How do I know it is up to date?
AusTender is the responsibility of the Department of Finance, which maintains it and updates it regularly. However, like any information published on the internet, it may change without notice, so we recommend checking the site often for updates and changes to tender information.
Conclusion
If you’re interested in growing your business with Australian Government tenders and contracts, AusTender is a must. Contact us today for your free consult and find out just how powerful this platform could be – before your competitors do!