An independent strategic review into the whole of Australian Government Single Seller Arrangements (SSAs) across a five-year period from 2019 to 2024. The SSAs are pre-negotiated, whole of Australian Government technology agreements with specified sellers, established to leverage the government’s collective buying power and ensure consistency with legal terms and conditions.

The review reaffirmed these contracting frameworks are fit for purpose and remain an effective way for government to leverage its collective buying power to provide value for money outcomes. 

The report supports the continued use of SSAs as a whole of Australian Government contracting framework, with five recommendations made to strengthen their transparency and ongoing value throughout the life of the SSA. A series of key actions to implement these recommendations are provided.

Key findings

• The review found the arrangements continue to deliver significant value for money for the Australian Government.
• Over the period, the SSAs secured discounts of more than $1.6 billion for the Australian Government.
• By leveraging a single head agreement and a centralised procurement administration tool, SSAs reduced processing times as well as legal costs associated with implementing digital solutions and services for agency buyers.
• 99% of Australian public servants surveyed across multiple government agencies as part of the review, indicated they would like SSAs to be retained.

Recommendations

1. Strengthen the SSA model by refining policy settings, specifying stronger cyber and sovereignty requirements, and simplifying the funding model 
2. Publish an SSA suitability assessment framework and then expand the use of the SSAs 
3. Proactively leverage the SSAs to support the growth of the Australian technology sector 
4. Enhance transparency and information availability by publishing SSA expenditure and correcting public facing content 
5. Leverage existing DTA capability to establish an end-to-end SSA management approach.