Updated Queensland Information Technology Contracting (QITC) Framework
In December 2019, updated versions of the following QITC Framework documents were published by the Department of Housing and Public Works:
- QITC General Contract Conditions
- template QITC General Contract Details
- QITC Comprehensive Contract Conditions
- template QITC Comprehensive Contract Details
- template QITC Invitation to Offer (ITO)
- QITC Standing Offer Arrangement (SOA) Conditions
- template QITC SOA Details.
The suite of QITC Framework documents were amended to reflect recent changes to the Queensland Procurement Policy, notably the:
- requirement for agencies to use best endeavours to engage ‘socially responsible suppliers’ in paragraph 2.2 of the Queensland Procurement Policy
- obligation on suppliers to comply with the Ethical Supplier Threshold specified in paragraph 2.3 of the Queensland Procurement Policy.
As an example of the overall changes to the suite of documents, the amendments to the QITC Comprehensive Contract Conditions, include:
- insertion of a new clause 4.5 (Ethical Supplier Threshold) which obliges the supplier to comply with the Ethical Supplier Threshold during the contract term and permits the customer to issue a written notice if it reasonably suspects the supplier is non-compliant
- consequential amendments to clauses 14.1 (Mutual obligations of confidentiality) and 14.2 (Permitted disclosures) to allow the customer to disclose information about:
- the contract in accordance with the Procurement guidelines: Contract disclosure and paragraph 3.3 of the Queensland Procurement Policy
- the supplier’s compliance with the Ethical Supplier Threshold
- consequential amendments to clause 24.1 (Termination – For cause – by Customer) to allow the customer to terminate the contract if, following the issuance of the written notice under clause 4.5, the customer believes that the supplier does not comply with the Ethical Supplier Threshold
- consequential amendments to clause 27.1 (Definitions) to insert the following additional defined terms: ‘Ethical Supplier Threshold’, ‘Procurement Guidelines: Contract Disclosure’ and ‘Queensland Procurement Policy’.
The change to the template QITC Comprehensive Contract Details is the addition of a prompt to potentially include one of the ‘example clauses’ specified in the Social Procurement Clauses Factsheet as an Additional Provision in Item 6.
If you have any questions about the amendments to the QITC Framework documents or procuring ICT products and services using the QITC Framework, Crown Law can help.