New Government model contract templates

MBIE has issued new Government model contract templates and updated the guidance for users. These contract templates continue to offer a standard, simple, plain English set of conditions for common goods and services. They are for low value, low risk contracts. The contract templates save effort, improve consistency and reduce legal costs for government and contracting partners.

MBIE issues updates from time to time to maintain the quality of the templates. The 3rd edition reflects many proposals from government agencies and suppliers, as well as some changes in legislation and policy. The main changes are:

• A new clause to reflect the Health and Safety at Work Act
• A new clause on the supplier’s obligations to meet employment standards
• A new clause to refer to the Supplier Code of Conduct
• Changes to simplify the language and the format of the documents.

We have refreshed the drafting of the templates taking into account the feedback from suppliers and government agencies. A summary of the consultation comments and the changes made can be found on the consultation on refreshed Government Model Contract templates page on the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment website. We received 34 submissions from a mix of government agencies and suppliers. We have carefully considered the submissions and the final product is improved by your input.

Government model contract templates

Consultation on refreshed Government Model Contract templates - Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

Implementing the templates

Government agencies may start to use the new templates now and must use them for all new eligible contracts for lower value, low risk contracts from 1 June 2020. These contract templates are not intended for construction, ICT or social services related contracts because they are generally not low risk or lower value.