ACT Omnibus Bill: Contracts Must Be $500 to Be Notified, Privacy Rules Expand, and Territory Entities Must Follow New Quote and Review Rules

Government Procurement Amendment Bill 2025

16 Feb 2026: Passed by Parliament and signed off by the governor.

This bill kicks in: TBA

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Topics

contract confidentiality government accountability government procurement government transparency Indigenous affairs Indigenous rights personal information privacy public spending small business

Introduced by: The Hon Rachel Stephen-Smith MLA (ALP) — Minister for Finance, Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for the Public Service

Links to official parliament websites

Official page: progress through parliament

Effects of this bill

If this bill passes, it means that:

Personal information and names are now considered confidential text in notifiable contracts; this excludes people supplying goods or services in their own name.
All text in notifiable contracts for legal services is now treated as confidential.
Government procurement rules apply to contracts with an estimated total value of $500 or more.
Territory entities can use oral quotations for procurements worth less than $500.
Territory entities must get three written quotations for limited tender procurements; they only need one if the supplier is a certified Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander entity or a local small or medium business.
Chief executive officers can exempt Territory entities from the three-quote requirement in writing.
The board must review high-value procurements over $7 million; this includes ICT system redesigns and contracts with significant probity concerns.
Territory entities no longer need to include secure local jobs code or procurement rule compliance in their compliance reports.

The Debate

What different members said when this bill was debated:

Rachel Stephen-Smith ALP

“I move: That this bill be agreed to in principle. I am pleased to present the Government Procurement Amendment Bill 2025 to the Assembly. This bill refines two key pieces of procurement legislation.”

Official source →

Ed Cocks LIB

“Given the length of debates today, I am going to try to keep this relatively short—at least for me. But, given the length of notes that I have, we will see how we go. Let me start off by saying something that should not be controversial: procurement should be simpler.”

Official source →

Andrew Braddock GRN

“I rise to support the intent of this bill and the improvements it seeks to make to the Government Procurement Act 2001 and the Government Procurement Regulation 2007. Many of the amendments before us are relatively modest in nature.”

Official source →

Thomas Emerson IND

“I, too, rise to speak in support of this bill. As I said before, Canberra is a great place to live but it can be a tough place to do business. Nonetheless, Canberrais hometo somanySMEsdoingincredibleandinnovativework, some of whom are recognised interstate and overseas for this work.”

Official source →