23. Tendering and Contracting

23.1 GETS notified of tenders on or over the government procurement threshold

Advertising of web site tenders and opportunities on or over the threshold value as stated for purchases of goods and general services (refer government procurement site http://www.procurement.govt.nz) are notified to Government Electronic Tendering Service.

Note: This amount is the total calculated over the entire duration of the contract including the initial term and any provisions for additional terms.

Guide to this Standard

GETS, see http://www.gets.govt.nz web site.

There are a number of mandatory rules agencies must comply with for procurement. Advertising on GETS is just one component of the Rules. Agencies should refer to the government procurement site (www.procurement.govt.nz ) for details of all procurement rules which include the GETS requirement.

Crown entities are encouraged to apply the government procurement Rules and make use of GETS.

If your web site development comes under classification as a “ Major IT project”, there are further requirements of your agency to be met.

See also www.procurement.govt.nz

Rationale for this standard

International trade agreement commitments require New Zealand government departments' procurement requirements to be notified publicly and encourage the use of electronic means for this. Accordingly, the Mandatory Rules for Procurement by Departments require Public Service Departments, New Zealand Defence Force and New Zealand Police to use GETS.

23.2 Specifying compliance with web standards and recommendations

Guide to this standard

RFPs, RFIs and Contracts make compliance with the New Zealand Web Standards a requirement.

Rationale for this standard

To ensure that these standards and recommendations are made aware to any third parties upfront. This will also be of assistance if and when there is subsequent dispute with a delivered product to or on behalf of agencies, where it is believed one or more of the standards or recommendations have been overlooked.

23.3 Data re-use by third party hosts

When contracting with a service provider, the contract must specify that the provider must not independently collect or reuse data gained in the course of providing the service, unless prior approval has been given by the agency.

This does not relieve the contractor of their obligations under the Privacy Act 1993.

Guide to this standard

An external service provider can have access to personal information about a service user; can gain information in the form of server or application logs, tracking, client data, HTTP header information that includes data from cookies, and click-stream data.

Rationale for this standard

The contracting out of services, for example the hosting of a web site, can include a range of issues that are similar to those faced by a government agency when hosting services in-house.