Receipts
Contracts published in the last

12% of Commonwealth contracts published in the last 7 days appeared more than 42 days after they started.

That’s 100 of 867 contracts with a start date on record. Agencies have 42 days to report a contract.

$436.4Mcommitted across 867 new contracts
34%of that value went through limited tender, without open competition
46%of that value went to suppliers with an overseas address
2amendments to existing contracts published in the same period

Money published per day

2026-09-15: $140.1M across 59 contracts2026-09-16: $49.7M across 136 contracts2026-09-17: $89.6M across 117 contracts2026-09-18: $62.4M across 235 contracts2026-09-19: $0 across 0 contracts2026-09-20: $2.1M across 7 contracts2026-09-21: $28.2M across 191 contracts2026-09-22: $64.3M across 122 contracts
2026-09-15Peak day $140.1M2026-09-22

Slowest to report

Share of each agency’s contracts published late. Agencies with at least 5 contracts.

  1. Department of Veterans' Affairs80% (4/5, worst 371d over)
  2. Federal Court of Australia50% (3/6, worst 41d over)
  3. Australian Research Council50% (3/6, worst 20d over)
  4. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade26% (15/57, worst 1,041d over)
  5. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Australian Aid Program25% (2/8, worst 519d over)
  6. Services Australia19% (3/16, worst 120d over)
  7. Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions17% (2/12, worst 818d over)
  8. Royal Australian Mint17% (1/6, worst 8d over)

Biggest spenders

Total value of new contracts published.

  1. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Australian Aid Program$156.7M (8)
  2. Department of Defence$144.5M (503)
  3. Federal Court of Australia$25.8M (6)
  4. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade$17.4M (57)
  5. Services Australia$12.8M (16)
  6. Department of Health, Disability and Ageing$10M (24)
  7. Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry$7.9M (20)
  8. Australian Communications and Media Authority$7.4M (3)

Top suppliers

Grouped by ABN where one is recorded.

  1. COWATER INTERNATIONAL INC $110M (1)
  2. FMS ACCOUNT RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA $71.6M (1)
    Show more

    “FMS Account” is Foreign Military Sales, a United States Government program. Defence buys the equipment from the US Government, which buys it from the manufacturer. The supplier name is shown as Defence published it: it identifies the account the payments go to, not the company that makes the equipment, and the manufacturer is not on the record. These purchases are always limited tender, because there is only one seller.

    • CN4277336 Marine craft systems and subassemblies, $71,592,061
  3. Tetra Tech International Development Pty Ltd ABN 63007889081$38.5M (1)
  4. Data#3 Limited ABN 31010545267$27.4M (11)
  5. QANTAS AIRWAYS LTD ABN 16009661901$7.8M (1)
  6. IA Group Pty Ltd ABN 29075871813$7.4M (1)
  7. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare ABN 16515245497$7.4M (1)
  8. UNIVERSAL MCCANN ABN 19002966001$6.2M (2)

Why competition was skipped

Reasons agencies gave for limited tenders, by contract value.

  1. No reason given$117M (543)
  2. 10.3.d.iii. Supply by particular business: due to an absence of competition for technical reasons.$12.4M (11)
  3. 10.3.e. Additional deliveries by original supplier intended as replacement parts, extensions, or continuation for existing goods or services for compatibility.$12.4M (23)
  4. 10.3.b. Extreme urgency or events unforeseen.$4.3M (1)
  5. 10.3.g. Prototype intended for limited trial or developed at the entity's request for a research, experiment, study, or original development contract.$1.4M (3)
  6. 10.3.a.iii. No tenderers satisfied conditions for participation.$682K (1)
  7. 10.3.a.i. No submissions or value for money submissions received.$634K (1)
  8. 10.3.d.ii. Supply by particular business: with no reasonable alternative or substitute: to protect exclusive rights or proprietary information.$229.7K (1)

Largest contracts

ContractAgencySupplierCategoryMethodValue
CN4277004
Management of Human Development Initiative (Timor-Leste)
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Australian Aid ProgramCOWATER INTERNATIONAL INCManagement, business and administrative servicesopen$110,000,000
CN4277336
Marine craft systems and subassemblies
Show more

“FMS Account” is Foreign Military Sales, a United States Government program. Defence buys the equipment from the US Government, which buys it from the manufacturer. The supplier name is shown as Defence published it: it identifies the account the payments go to, not the company that makes the equipment, and the manufacturer is not on the record. These purchases are always limited tender, because there is only one seller.

  • Contract period: 7 Sept 2026 to 15 June 2034
  • Published: 17 Sept 2026
  • Classification: Vehicles, aircraft, ships and their parts (UNSPSC 25111900)
  • Supplier address: UNITED STATES
Department of DefenceFMS ACCOUNT RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIAVehicles, aircraft, ships and their partslimited$71,592,061
CN4277136
Mekong-Australia Partnership Phase 2 Support Unit
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Australian Aid ProgramTetra Tech International Development Pty LtdManagement, business and administrative servicesopen519d late$38,500,000
CN4278149
Microsoft VSA6 products and services
Federal Court of AustraliaData#3 LimitedIT, broadcasting and telecommunicationsopen41d late$25,479,007
CN4277003
Palau Paradise Express (Pacific)
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - Australian Aid ProgramQANTAS AIRWAYS LTDTransport, storage and mail servicesopen$7,836,400
CN4278137
26ACMA149 - Construction Management Services for Melbourne accommodation 
Australian Communications and Media AuthorityIA Group Pty LtdBuilding, construction and maintenance servicesopen47d late$7,400,000
CN4277907
Australian Burden of Disease Study
Department of Health, Disability and AgeingAustralian Institute of Health and WelfareEngineering, research and technology serviceslimited$7,371,000
CN4278117
National H5 Bird Flu Campaign
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and ForestryUNIVERSAL MCCANNEditorial, design, graphic and fine art servicesopen$6,000,000
CN4277952
Provision for the replacement and refresh of IP Australia's laptop fleet
IP AustraliaHP PPS AUSTRALIA PTY LTDIT, broadcasting and telecommunicationsopen$5,060,579
CN4277467
Communications Equipment
Department of DefenceBOEING DEFENCE AUSTRALIA LTDIT, broadcasting and telecommunicationslimited$4,922,433
CN4277039
Computer Hardware
Services AustraliaASI SOLUTIONSIT, broadcasting and telecommunicationsopen$4,874,143
CN4277468
System Spare Parts
Department of DefenceBABCOCK PTY LTDPower generation and distribution machineryopen$4,587,497