How government buys

Understand how the Victorian Government buys goods, services and construction works so you can increase your ability to win work.

Victorian Government organisations are responsible for their own buying. They must follow:

  • their own organisation’s procurement rules
  • whole-of-Victorian-Government principles and rules

Principles and rules for government procurement

We are committed to ethical, sustainable and socially responsible procurement.

To make sure suppliers keep the same values as us, we’ve established a Supplier Code of Conduct.

Read the Supplier Code of Conduct

To help buyers and suppliers to deliver social, economic and environmental outcomes that benefit the Victorian community, we’ve developed the Social Procurement Framework and the Local Jobs First Policy comprising the Victorian Industry Participation Policy and the Major Project Skills Guarantee

These help agencies achieve better procurement outcomes.

Find other policies.

Learn more about the goods and services procurement policy.

Learn more about the construction procurement policy.

How buyers approach the market

Government buyers approach the market on an ongoing basis.

There are some different ways buyers might approach the market:

  • open competitive processes - any supplier can submit a tender or proposal to the buyer for review
  • closed competitive processes - selected suppliers are invited to submit tenders or proposals
  • direct sourcing - a supplier is directly approached by a buyer to do the work

Notices for contracts using an open competitive process are published on the Buying for Victoria portal.

If the contract uses a closed competitive process, the buyer can approach suppliers directly after selecting them from panels or registers of prequalified suppliers.

If you prequalify for a panel or register you can streamline your bids and how you communicate your capability to government buyers

Find out how to join a panel or register

Types of contract

You can tender for:

  • one-off contracts for goods, works or services
  • membership of a supplier panel

Government procurement contracts can be:

  • standard form contracts used for most construction contracting
  • standard form contracts for goods and services
  • a whole-of-Victorian-Government contract for common goods and services

Visit Prepare your procurement documents to view standard form template contracts.

Updated