Following approval by the Presiding Officers, the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) will commence the process of seeking expressions of interest for retail services in Parliament House.
This approach follows the 2014–15 Auditor General’s ANAO Report No.24 (Managing Assets and Contracts at Parliament House) that identified the need to strengthen the management of retail licenses, develop a retail strategy and achieve value for money. Specifically, the ANAO stated:
To strengthen contract management arrangements, the ANAO recommends that the Department of Parliamentary Services implements consistent processes and practices for developing business cases, value for money assessments, contract management plans, and end-of-contract evaluation and reporting (Recommendation 4, Managing Assets and Contracts at Parliament House, ANAO).
A retail strategy to enhance the retail offerings to all building occupants has now been developed as a consequence of the ANAO recommendations.
DPS will test the market in a staged approach for retail services and seek to attract a broader range of services to meet the requests in consecutive building occupant surveys for a wider variety of options.
The current hairdresser, physiotherapy and casual dining licences have not been market tested through an open express of interest (EOI) process for decades.
This approach to market is intended to seek a broad range of quality services, including GP services and more casual dining options, to meet the needs of parliamentarians and building occupants who are unable to leave Parliament House during the day — especially during busy parliamentary sitting periods.
All current licensees affected by this approach to market have been advised of this process and are encouraged to submit an EOI to continue to provide services to the Parliament.