This course is designed to meet the needs of practising lawyers and senior public and private sector managers who advise, work, or are about to do so in procurement, and contracting out (outsourcing) more generally. The content of this course is also relevant to the private sector and non-government organisations in their efficient and effective conduct of their tendering and outsourcing activities.

The course focuses on Commonwealth law and practice.  However, where possible and appropriate, relevant comparisons and critiques of state and territory processes will be incorporated.

The course considers the legal and regulatory framework within which procurement takes place and analyses the often complex and technical legal issues that apply to procurement, with a focus on government procurement.  In doing so the course will consider:
• the constitutional and legislative framework, in particular the financial management regulatory framework;
• the procurement framework, including relevant legislation, rules, policies, processes and procedures;
• legal principles applicable to the conduct of procurement;
• procurement methodologies;
• legal risk analysis,  risk assessment and risk management;
• probity principles and ethics in procurement;
• practical issues concerning drafting, finalising and advising on procurement documents;
• drafting evaluation criteria and evaluation methodologies, considering their importance in procurement activities, for example, fulfilling the objective of “value for money”;
• the conduct of evaluations and appropriate documentation for: evidence of applying the evaluation criteria;
evaluating responses to a procurement process; the evaluation report; and finalising procurement processes, including debriefing unsuccessful tenderers.

The course will equip participants with the capacity to apply an advanced body of legal knowledge and principles in a range of contexts for professional practice in procurement.