RELEASE OF COMMONWEALTH LEGAL SERVICES PROCUREMENT REPORT
8 January 2010
Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, today released a broad review into the procurement of Commonwealth legal services.
Commissioned in March, the review examines existing arrangements for the procurement of legal services and provides advice on how the Commonwealth can most efficiently purchase legal services to deliver value for money for taxpayers.
“The report finds that the current system of agencies individually tendering for legal services is very costly both to the Commonwealth and to external service providers,” Mr McClelland said.
Although some agencies have already made significant savings from legal services, the review finds that further savings can be made through the more effective management of in-house legal practices, including:
- introducing a coordinated procurement process for legal services across all Commonwealth agencies;
- ‘professionalising’ in-house legal practices to improve service delivery and their ability to procure external legal services;
- centralising the support of in-house legal practices, including the development of standards, training and support;
- establishing a web-based legal services interface to provide coordinated support in both the procurement of legal services and the collection and management of data; and
- adopting, where appropriate, the practices of large corporations in managing the procurement and provision of legal services.
“The review puts forward a number of recommendations which the Government will consider carefully as part of our commitment to closely monitor legal services expenditure and achieve greater value for taxpayers’ money.”
As part of this commitment, the Government has already moved to:
- improve transparency through a mandatory reporting format for legal expenditure;
- implement common tender arrangements for agencies seeking to purchase legal services;
- increase competition by enabling a broader range of firms to work on behalf of the Commonwealth; and
- encourage the use of alternative dispute resolution in place of courts.
These reforms, in place for the first time during the previous financial year, saw the growth in Commonwealth legal expenditure decline from 25 per cent in 2007-08 ($510 million) to nine per cent in 2008-09 ($555 million).
The report of the Review of Commonwealth Legal Services Procurement is attached and available on the Attorney-General's Department website.
Media Contact: Adam Siddique 0407 473 630
