Tendering with government

Find out about the Northern Territory (NT) Government tendering process.

Learn more about preparing your tender documents and how to submit an offer.

Tendering guide

Get the tendering guide for help doing business with government.

Tendering guide PDF (687.3 KB)
Tendering guide DOCX (673.4 KB)

Value for Territory

The Value for Territory (VFT) guide explains how government assesses tenders using the VFT assessment framework.

This framework aims to increase transparency and consistency in the tendering process, helping more Territory businesses:

  • win work
  • participate in the supply chain.

You should read this alongside the tendering guide and the segmentation and terminology guides.

VFT assessment guide PDF (580.7 KB)
VFT assessment guide DOCX (316.7 KB)

Segmentation and terminology guides

The segmentation and terminology guides can help you understand the VFT assessment framework.

You should read these guides alongside the VFT assessment guide.

VFT assessment framework segmentation guide DOCX (228.1 KB)
VFT assessment framework segmentation guide PDF (887.7 KB)

VFT assessment framework terminology guide DOCX (191.4 KB)
VFT assessment framework terminology guide PDF (709.5 KB)

Procurement code

The code is an established set of minimum standards for the conduct of business in the NT.

It applies to all suppliers of goods, services, and works.

To tender and contract with government, you must comply with this code.

NT procurement code PDF (245.1 KB)
NT procurement code DOCX (648.5 KB)

Competitive tendering guidelines

When tendering for NT Government (NTG) tenders, you must prepare a competitively neutral tender price if you're a:

  • government owned business
  • local, territory or state government agency or authority.

This increases the competitive neutrality within the tendering process.

Government entities will be assessed on the competitively neutral tender price.

Read more about competitive neutrality.

For information on the competitive tendering process, get the NTG competitive tendering guidelines.

NTG competitive tendering guidelines PDF (122.4 KB)
NTG competitive tendering guidelines DOCX (59.5 KB)

Conditions

When tendering, you must comply with the conditions of tendering or quoting.

These are mandatory requirements.

If you don't fully meet the requirements, your offer might not be considered.

You must review the conditions before you tender.

You may be able to ask for changes to the conditions of contract. Check your tender documents to see if this is allowed.

If you are awarded a contract, the conditions of contract apply.

These are legal documents. You or government can enforce them.

If you are unsure of what your conditions mean, contact the officer listed in your tender documents.

Aboriginal economic participation framework

Under the Aboriginal economic participation framework, tenders must support Aboriginal:

  • employment
  • business opportunities

To drive this, an Aboriginal procurement policy has been developed and will be in effect on 1 July 2022.

An Aboriginal grants policy will also be released later this year.

To find out about the Aboriginal economic participation framework, go to the Office of Aboriginal Affairs website.

Local benefit commitments

In your tender response, you provided information on local benefit commitments.

These are now included in your contract.

You must meet these obligations for the life of the contract.

You will be monitored and reviewed to ensure they are met.

Subcontracting

You can enter into a subcontracting arrangement where there is a:

  • head contractor
  • subcontractor.

Depending on the type of project, there can be more than one subcontractor.

You must resolve any issues between the head contractor and subcontractor. These issues may be about:

  • liability
  • disputes
  • non-payment of invoices.

Joint venture

A joint venture is when 2 or more businesses or individuals agree to work together on a project.

They are usually in place for a single project, and finish once project is complete.

The parties may then choose to do any of the following:

  • become an incorporated joint venture and form a company
  • remain an unincorporated joint venture.

Both incorporated and unincorporated joint ventures can tender for work.

For more information, read the tendering and joint ventures guide.

Tendering and joint ventures PDF (288.1 KB)
Tendering and joint ventures DOCX (652.2 KB)

Find out how to prepare your tender response.

Women-owned business

To identify how many women-owned businesses are tendering with government, this data will be collected with your tender submission.

This is part of a trial led by the Australian Government's Workplace Gender Equity Agency to:

  • understand contracts awarded based on gender business ownership
  • identify potential trends that can be used to foster a more inclusive and equitable procurement environment.

It will not change how your submission is assessed and there will be no special treatment or disadvantage to any businesses.

For more information, contact Procurement NT by emailing procurement.nt@nt.gov.au.

Definition

A women-owned business is a business that:

  • is more than 50% owned by at least one woman who:
    • has management and control
    • is a signatory of legal documents and financial accounts
  • operates independently from other businesses that are not owned by women.

This definition has been adopted from the International Organisational Standardisation (ISO).

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