• Section 1 - Preamble
• Section 2 - Purpose
• Section 3 - Scope
• Section 4 - Policy
• Section 5 - Procedure
• Planning for Procurement
• Procurement within Restricted Categories
• Procurement within Other Categories
• Market Approach
• Table A: Procurement Thresholds
• Procurement and Probity Plans
• Purchase Orders
• Exemption from a market approach
• Contracts
• Section 6 - Definitions

Section 1 - Preamble

(1) This Procedure is effective from 4 July 2023.

Section 2 - Purpose

(2) This Procedure provides instruction on how to acquire goods and services on behalf of the University.

Section 3 - Scope

(3) This Procedure applies to the purchase or lease of all goods and services from suppliers external to the University and its controlled entities except as otherwise specified in other policies and procedures.

Section 4 - Policy

(4) This Procedure is pursuant to the Procurement policy.

Section 5 - Procedure

Planning for Procurement

(5) Purchasers must ensure that they have the required financial delegation to make a purchase, or that a staff member with an appropriate financial delegation can complete the purchase on their behalf.

(6) Purchasers must confirm there is an approved budget for the goods and services being procured. The total expenditure over the lifecycle of a good or service must be taken into account.

(7) All procurement activities must be undertaken using approved Procurement Templates. (Contact procure@deakin.edu.au for templates).

(8) Prior to undertaking procurement activity a purchaser should consider whether the activity poses any unacceptable risks to Deakin, including personal, financial, reputational, security, foreign interference or other risks outside of the University’s risk appetite, and is responsible for undertaking due diligence on all partners and suppliers. Guidance on identifying risks is outlined in the procurement guidelines provided on the ordering and buying goods and services page on DeakinHub. If in doubt a purchaser can contact the Procurement Team or Office of General Counsel for advice.

(9) Deakin’s Defence Security Officer must undertake a security risk assessment of all suppliers involved in or relating to Defence impacted research, contracts or other activities.

Procurement within Restricted Categories

(10) Purchasers must contact the corresponding Restricted Category Manager or the Procurement Team before purchasing goods or services from the following restricted categories:

1. facilities management and maintenance;
2. utilities;
3. information and communications technology (including services, websites, software and hardware), including security risk assessment of suppliers;
4. major construction;
5. legal services;
6. individuals as contractors and consultants(i.e. not companies);
7. any purchase with a life cycle consideration greater than $300,000
8. suppliers to defence related projects, research and contracts.

Procurement within Other Categories

(11) Purchasers must use approved suppliers for identified categories as listed on the ordering and buying goods and services page on DeakinHub. Where approved suppliers are not identified, purchasers must follow the procurement process set out in this Procedure and the Procurement policy.

Market Approach

(12) The Procurement Team will facilitate market approaches considered to be of high risk or over $300,000. 

(13) All market approaches (except for Requests for Quotations less than $100,000 in value) must be conducted through the University’s approved e-tender portal, or another approved portal as determined by the Manager, Procurement Policy and Process.

(14) Where a market approach is at or above a threshold specified in Table A the corresponding procurement process and minimum requirements must be followed, unless an exemption is approved.

Table A: Procurement Thresholds

Procurement and Probity Plans

(15) The purchaser must develop a procurement plan in conjunction with the Procurement Team for any procurement activity considered to be of high risk and high value as detailed in the relevant category plan.

(16) The purchaser must develop a probity plan in conjunction with the Procurement Team for every procurement activity considered to be of high risk and high value or where parties external to Deakin are involved in developing the procurement scope/brief or evaluating responses to a market approach process.

Purchase Orders

(17) Supplier Invoice Payments or Ad Hoc Payments can be used for low value purchases of less than $5,000 (inclusive of GST) where the requirements of clause 13 have been fulfilled. See the Finance SharePoint for more information.

(18) A purchase order must be raised through DeakinUniFi prior to purchasing the goods or services where the value of the procurement exceeds $5,000 (inclusive of GST). See the Finance SharePoint for more information.

(19) Credit card purchases must be undertaken in accordance with the Credit Card policy.

Exemption from a market approach

(20) Requests for an exemption from a market approach as set out in clauses 11 to 13 must be submitted and approved by the Special Advisor, Strategic Procurement via the Exemption Request Form, prior to procurement taking place.

(21) The Special Advisor, Strategic Procurement may:

1. seek further information from the person requesting the exemption;
2. reject the request; or
3. recommend to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University Services to approve the exemption where the request has a total expenditure over the life cycle of the good or service greater than $500,000.

(22) The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University Services may approve or reject an exemeption request.

Contracts

(23) All contracts must be facilitated in accordance with the requirements of the Contracts policy and Contracts procedure.

Section 6 - Definitions

(24) For the purpose of this Procedure:

1. approved supplier: an individual supplier or supplier panel/arrangement that has been endorsed for use. A supplier agreement, and the conditions of operation of the agreement, will comply with the requirements of the Procurement policy suite;
2. associates: as defined in the Procurement policy;
3. goods and services: as defined in the Procurement policy;
4. market approach: as defined in the Procurement policy;
5. probity plan: a plan to ensure that probity issues are considered prior to the start of a procurement process, including where that procurement is sensitive, of high value, of high risk, subject to a high degree of public scrutiny or involves a broad range of diverse stakeholders;
6. procurement category plan: a plan that aligns business objectives with a strategic one to three year approach to a procurement category such that value is maximised, risk is minimised and the supply of goods and/or services in the category are effectively managed;
7. procurement plan: a plan for a specific procurement activity that sets out a statement of the key requirements, an analysis of how the market works, a specific assessment of risk and ultimately a definition of the best procurement strategy to meet the procurement activity’s business objectives;
8. procurement process: a process to conduct a market approach, for example a Request for Quotation, an Expression of Interest, a Request for Information, a Request for Proposal, a Request for Tender;
9. purchase activity: a process of acquiring low value goods or services from an approved supplier or a non-approved supplier that is typically less than $5,000 in aggregated value;
10. Restricted Category Manager:
    1. Infrastructure and Property or Campus Operations for facilities management and maintenance;
    2. Infrastructure and Property for utilities;
    3. Digital Services for information and communications technology (including services, software and hardware);
    4. Infrastructure and Property for major construction;
    5. Office of the General Counsel for legal services;
11. value for money: as defined in the Procurement policy.