Senate reports on the Government Procurement (Judicial Review) Bill 2017

As reported on in our recent update entitled ' A new dawn for bid challenges', on 25 May 2017, the Government Procurement (Judicial Review) Bill 2017 was introduced to the Parliament, seeking to 'establish an independent and effective complaints mechanism for procurement processes'. The Bill, if passed, will enable suppliers to complain about breaches to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs), thus providing the Federal Circuit Court (FCC) and the Federal Court of Australia (FCA) with the power to review complaints and order injunctions or compensation.

The Bill was subsequently referred to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee for inquiry and report. Taking into consideration the submissions made by various organisations and individuals, the committee tabled its report on 4 August 2017.