Late last week the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction released its list of qualified respondents who will be invited to proceed to the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage of the new EPBC contract. To see the list, click here.

There are some surprises in some catchments as current prime contractors did not make the "qualified" list. It will be interesting to see who will move forward on the RFP when it is expected to be released later this month. ASPECT has been asking government to release the financial model in advance of the RFP, but have been told that the current procurement climate will not allow this. What was done in the 2011 cannot be done now. ASPECT has also asked that the RFP for the Assisted Technologies and Apprentice contracts , which closed last Thursday, be released. The response from government that they will release it as soon as they can, but it likely will not be until after the contracts are awarded. 

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