Detailed Outline 

This direction mandates the publication of all NSW Government supply opportunities exceeding $150,000 (inc GST) on buy NSW.

Centralised publication of NSW Government supply opportunities will improve procurement outcomes, increase transparency and visibility of procurement activity and help to ensure that the government is spending public money fairly, efficiently and for the long-term benefit of everyone in NSW.

 All procurements (open and selective) where total engagement exceeds the GIPA disclosure threshold of $150,000 (inc GST) must be published on the buy NSW Tenders module.

 Procurements include (but are not limited to) the following market approach types:

• request for tender (open, multi-stage or limited/selective)

• request for information

• request for quote

• expression of interest

• direct negotiation

• strategic commissioning

 Open opportunities will be published on the buy NSW Opportunities Hub, distributed via the nightly opportunities email and matched to supplier dashboards using the buy NSW taxonomy. Selective opportunities may be published on the buy NSW Opportunities Hub, will be matched to invited supplier’s dashboards and distributed via email to the nominated supplier contact.

 Publishing to the buy NSW Opportunities Hub for selective opportunities is determined by the nominated visibility at the time of publishing. The following definition of visibility applies:

• Limited visibility: Published on the buy NSW Opportunities Hub with limited details. Only invited suppliers are able to respond.

• Restricted visibility: Not published on the buy NSW Opportunities Hub. Only visible to invited suppliers.

 Only nominated invited suppliers and users with appropriate agency/administrative permissions will have visibility of restricted selective opportunities (eg direct negotiation market approaches). These opportunities will be included in reporting.

 All opportunities are available for matching to contract disclosures following completion of the market engagement.

 Agencies will be provided with access to the buy NSW Opportunities Application Programming Interface (API) to simplify and the streamline the publishing process. The API will allow the automated publishing of opportunities, amendments and provide a complete list of all published opportunities. Agencies can also manually publish opportunities if they choose to do so.

 Effective date and transitional arrangements

 This direction will be effective from 31 December 2024.

 The Direction will be reviewed by the Procurement Board in March 2025 to assess progress on technical implementation and agency transition.

 Agencies will have up to 12 months from the date that the Opportunities API development is completed (ending no later than 31 December 2025) to comply with this Direction. During this time buy NSW will work with agencies on development and implementation of the buy NSW Opportunities API for automated publishing.

 Context

Centralising publication of NSW Government supply opportunities creates a single source of truth of procurement activity and enables the matching of procurement activity to outcomes (contract disclosures). It will improve the data quality of downstream systems such as SpendCube and enhances visibility of on and off-contract spend.

 A centralised record of opportunities will:

• Ensure all Government supply opportunities are to registered suppliers.

• Match completed opportunities to contract disclosures to improve connection between outcome and activity.

• Improve transparency and visibility of invited suppliers to support and better measure impacts of Government priorities such as local industry and manufacturing.

• Reduce barriers to entry for smaller suppliers and simplify access to procurement opportunities.

 To reduce the burden and overhead for agencies all publishing of opportunities can be completed programmatically using APIs from agency systems to buy NSW.

 As a recognised state digital asset, centralisation of supplier registration will leverage government investment in buy NSW and supports one of the 3 legislated and mandated procurement compliance requirements.