Community Services Bulletin

This is the Community Services Procurement Bulletin. September 2023 edition. It is compiled by the Department of Finance.

General Manager Update

Welcome back to the Community Services Bulletin. The end of September brings us to the end of the Noongar season Djilba and into warmer season of Kambarang. Kambarang brings rising temperatures, and a flood of wildflowers.

We have reached the final quarter of the year, and the team has been hard at work developing new resources to support agency commissioning practices, updating procurement resources and continuing to support the community services sector and government agencies in achieving quality outcomes for our community.

Keep reading to find out more about template updates, the next steps of the commissioning cycle, the newly released self-assessment tool and a discussion around pricing negotiations. We are planning on reviewing the terms of reference for the Community Services Procurement Review Committee. Keep an eye out for any updates.

I recently got to spend over five weeks in Europe (pictured here on the drive into Epernay) and would like to thank all of the members of the team who kept everything moving along while I had a fabulous break.

Lara Connor, General Manager

Template Updates

The Request for Tender, Request for Preferred Service Provider, and Request for Expression of Interest community services templates have been updated to provide Lodgement Details to include the Tenders WA system file format update. To find out more information on file formats see Tenders WA Help Guides.

The Request for Preferred Service Provider community services template also includes an update for Advice on Submitting Offers to ensure consistency with other community services Request Templates.

For more information find the updated templates on Finance’s Community Services templates page. Agencies are reminded to use current templates to plan, develop and manage contracts.

Commissioning Cycle: Next Steps

The third stage of the commissioning cycle is design services. Service design is the process of identifying the interventions that will be put in place to address identified needs.

During the design services process, a logic model is developed which outlines the community needs, desired outcomes and responses. Logic modelling assists in overall service design and should be developed through co-design with stakeholders.

Designing services also involves identifying best practice and considering any existing services that are evidence-based and relevant to the commissioning context. Consideration should be given to whether best practices can be adapted to the geographical context, target demographic, and political, economic and funding environment of the proposed commissioning activity.

Stay tuned for our next bulletin where we will continue to explore the stages of the commissioning cycle!

Commissioning Capability Self-assessment Tool

The commissioning capability self-assessment tool is available now on wa.gov.au.

The self-assessment tool is designed for government practitioners to assess their capacity and capability to undertake commissioning.

This tool is structured around each section of the commissioning cycle and provides practitioners with an assessment of their commissioning capability ranging from undeveloped to advanced.

New team in Finance – Commissioning Services

Finance now has a team in place to provide strategic guidance and/or support with community service procurements. The Commissioning Services team can assist in the following areas:

• Provision of advice on community services procurements that are high risk, or which include co-commissioning or collaborative (i.e. cross agency) aspects
• Identification of strategies to maximise the engagement and involvement of Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations
• Exploration of opportunities for integrated and placed based services
• Guidance on optimal commissioning governance structures
• Strategies to support organisational change to facilitate commissioning

If you would like to talk to us about an ongoing or upcoming community service procurement process, or any of the above items, please email csprocurement@finance.wa.gov.au.

Price Negotiation for Contract Extensions

For State agencies who are extending or rolling over contracts with service providers, it is important that negotiations around pricing occur as part of this process. This is to ensure that community services delivered through long-term contracts remain sustainable for service providers and reflect increased costs of delivering services.

This is in line with the requirement under the Delivering Community Services in Partnership (DCSP) Policy for sustainable service delivery, which specifies that State agencies must purchase community services at a fair and appropriate price.

State agencies should ensure that they undertake appropriate pricing negotiations prior to extending or rolling over contracts.