As an Australian Government agency, our decisions must be transparent, our policies credible and our practices fair and ethical. We strive to achieve well-coordinated, efficient and accountable public administration. We comply with legislative and mandatory requirements that pose external reporting obligations, including those provided below.
NHMRC corporate reporting
The National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992 (NHMRC Act) requires the CEO to develop a corporate plan setting out:
- the CEO’s assessment of the major national health issues that are likely to arise during the period
- the manner in which the CEO proposes to perform his or her functions in dealing with those issues during the period
- a national strategy for medical and public health research.
The corporate plan must also meet the requirements for corporate plans set out in the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act).
As a Commonwealth entity, NHMRC must also prepare an annual report for the Minister of Health to table in Parliament.
Other reporting requirements:
- Annual Child Safety Statement
- Copyright
- FOI requests
- Fraud control
- Information publication scheme
- Media releases
- NHMRC Audit Committee
- Privacy practices
- Public Interest Disclosure
Procurement and Contracts
Australian Government terms and conditions for the supply of goods and services
The Australian Government terms and conditions that apply to goods and services ordered through a purchase order can be downloaded from Department of Finance
Work health and safety requirements for contractors and suppliers
Tenders
Details of all of NHMRC's current tenders can be found on the Australian Government tender website AusTender.
Annual Procurement Plan
To view NHMRC's Annual Procurement Plan please go to the Australian Government tender website AusTender.
Contracts
Senate Order 192 on departmental and agency contracts sets out contracts entered into by NHMRC which provide for a consideration to the value of $100,000 (inc GST).
Most of the contracts listed contain confidentiality provisions of a general nature that are designed to protect the confidential information of the parties that may be obtained or generated in carrying out the contract and are not reportable on AusTender.
However requirements to maintain the confidentiality of information obtained or generated as a result of performance of a contract only where a contract clause has sought to protect specific information such as:
- costing/profit information
- trade secrets
- Privacy Act 1988
The contract amounts are reported in line with Department of Finance requirements. The amounts show the total expected expenditure over the whole life of the contract.
All procurement contracts can be found through AusTender.
Estimated cost of complying with this policy: $3590
This estimate was achieved by calculating the total time staff spent collecting, preparing and verifying the information at their relevant hourly rate of pay.
Legal services expenditure
The table below outlines the NHMRC’s legal services expenditure for 2021-22, in compliance with paragraph 11.1(ba) of the Legal Services Directions 2017
| Legal Expenditure | Total Expenditure |
| Internal legal services expenditure | $291,709 |
| External legal services expenditure | $93,475 |
| Total legal services expenditure | $385,184 |
(all figures are GST exclusive)
