SCHOOL UNIFORMS

276 Mr PISONI (Unley) (23 October 2007).

1. What items of clothing are supplied by the Queensland firm, Uniform Management Services to the Unley High School and which items are manufactured in South Australia, interstate and overseas, respectively?

2. How did Uniform Management Services comply with section 24 of the Government Contracting Policy regarding conditions of tender prior to DECS awarding them contracts to supply uniforms to South Australian schools?

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH (Adelaide—Minister for Education and Children's Services, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the City of Adelaide): The Department of Education and Children's Services has advised:

1. The items of clothing supplied by Uniform Management Services (UMS) to the Unley High School include the range of girls and boys uniform items and physical education garments in the various sizes as specified in the tender document.

The introduction of the State Supply Act 1985 included the intention to provide every opportunity to Australian manufacturers and suppliers to compete for government contracts. The objective remains and its application has been extended to embrace New Zealand content consistent with the Australian New Zealand Government Procurement Agreement and where applicable, the United States/Australia Free Trade Agreement.

When assessing Tenders for goods such as school uniforms, the current State Procurement Board policy requires public authorities to apply a 20 per cent preference margin as a surcharge on the imported content. Accordingly, as there is no preference applied to other Australian State or New Zealand suppliers, the products or components produced in Australia or New Zealand are excluded from foreign content calculations.

In accordance with the above, Tenderers are required to specify imported content only. However, the origin of the UMS uniform items includes Australia, New Zealand and various overseas countries.

2. Tenderers were required to indicate the degree of compliance in their response against each item identified, which included the SA Government Contracting Policy. UMS indicated their full compliance with the SA Government Contracting Policy requirements.