Making a community services offer

What you need to do when making an offer to supply community services to government.

Before you make an offer, you should consider if a submission is worthwhile. To make this decision, you should review all sections of the Request document and consider the capacity and capability of your organisation.

Questions to ask before you get started with your offer

Preparing your offer can be expensive, time-consuming and is not guaranteed to succeed.

To decide whether it is worthwhile to submit an offer you may like to consider whether your organisation: 

  • meets any mandatory requirements specified in the Request
  • can fulfil the service requirements and address the qualitative criteria 
  • can deliver all of the intended community outcomes itself, or needs to partner with other organisations
  • has the financial capacity to deliver the outcomes detailed in the Request
  • has an actual or potential conflict of interest that should be disclosed in your offer
  • already has the resources to provide the service, or whether your organisation needs to build the cost of extra resources into the offered price 
  • will be able to viably provide services to address this community outcome
  • has the capacity to provide the service
  • is familiar with all of the government policies on community services purchasing

If you need clarification on any contractual or technical enquiries, please refer to the Request documents for the contact details of the appropriate person. Address your enquiry to the right person in order to get timely information. The government agency that issued the Request should always be your first point of contact. 

Where you need to lodge the Request with Tendering Services at the Optima Centre, you can get information from Tendering Services at tenderingservices@finance.wa.gov.au.

​Sections of the Request​

When the government agency calls a Request, the document is made up of several components.

Part A: What are the services to be purchased?

This section includes the service requirements and desired outcomes.  

The Request includes three categories which form the service requirements: 

1. community and service-level outcomes
2. statement of requirements
3. specification. 

Part B: Where can you get more information?

This section includes details of a mandatory or non-mandatory briefing (if applicable), and contact details for the relevant person.  

Part C: How will this procurement process work?

This section includes details of the supporting documentation and service agreement framework.  

Part D: How can you lodge an offer?

This section details the closing time and date of the request, how offers can be lodged and the offer validity period.  

Part E: How will your offer be assessed?

This section refers to the relevant State Government policies and how the evaluation criteria will be used to assess your offer.  

Part F: Key service agreement details

This section specifies important details of the service agreement such as its term, any extension options, payment schedule and service agreement management requirements.  

Part G: Guide to the response form

This section is a handy guide to how to respond to the request. 

Part H: Response form

This section, when completed and returned by you, forms your offer. It is your opportunity to explain how you would deliver the service, including the price you are offering. 

Process Terms and Conditions (Request for Offers)

Details the common tendering conditions across all government agency requests under the DCSP Policy. The ‘General Provisions for the Purchase of Community Services by State Agencies’ (general provisions) details the common contractual conditions across all government agency service agreements under the DCSP Policy. This document details the base conditions of the service agreement. A copy of the process terms and general provisions can be viewed and downloaded from Community services templates and guides

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