The Albanese Government has established a standing offer panel to make it easier to source critical goods and services during an emergency, supporting the success of the inaugural National Emergency Management Stockpile (NEMS).
The panel will ensure a continuous and reliable national stockpile of essential goods and services like temporary accommodation, generators and water purification systems, to assist state and territory emergency responses to communities impacted by disasters.
Suitably experienced suppliers can now apply to be part of the NEMS Standing Offer Panel through a tender managed by the National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA).
The Panel will ensure goods and services are available at fixed prices with shorter procurement lead-times. It will be open to state and territory governments to procure goods and services in preparation for disasters.
Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt said the time and planning invested to establish a Panel now will reduce prices and help mitigate supply chain risks that can often occur during times of crisis.
“The NEMS is another example of the Albanese Government demonstrating national leadership to ensure we are better prepared for increasingly frequent and intense natural disasters,” Minister Watt said.
“This will ensure the Australian Government responds faster to requests for disaster assistance from State and Territory Governments and will help reduce the reliance on Defence, as recommended by the Defence Strategic Review.
“This also demonstrates our support for Australian businesses by giving them the opportunity to be part of a standing offer arrangement.
“We encourage suppliers to help establish the NEMS Standing Offer Panel and offer their expertise to support the national response and relief capabilities in logistics, goods and specialist services.”
The Request for Tender opened on 18 October and closes on 6 December 2023.
More information is available on the AusTender website.
Further information:
The Albanese Government committed more than $8 million in the 2023-24 Federal Budget to establish a National Emergency Management Stockpile (NEMS) capability to provide rapid access to critical emergency management assets and resources to augment state and territory emergency response and immediate relief capabilities.
The NEMS is comprised of three parts:
- A national stockpile of Australian Government-owned disaster goods and services, and a seasonal strategic reserve of single-use consumables
- A standing offer panel to facilitate the procurement, management and deployment of critical goods and services in a crisis
- Memoranda of Understanding with other Australian Government humanitarian and crisis response capabilities.
The Panel is expected to be in operation by 1 July 2024 and will run for three years with options for two, one-year extensions.
More information on NEMS is available at the National Emergency Management Agency website.
