Procurement Complaints Handling Process
Contents
1.	Internal Courses of Action
Independent Internal Review
Costs
2.	Other Courses of Action
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Alternative Dispute Resolution Costs
Commonwealth Procurement Coordinator
Commonwealth Ombudsman

1.	
Initial Course of Action 
Initial Action
Where you have a complaint about an ACIAR procurement process you may request a review and written response by the ACIAR Procurement Complaints Officer. Complaints are to be sent to:
Procurement Complaints Officer
ACIAR House
GPO Box 1571, Canberra, ACT 2601.
The Procurement Complaints Officer will respond to the request within 10 working days.
Independent Internal Review 
If you are dissatisfied with the response from the Procurement Complaints Officer to your complaint, you can request an independent internal review.  Any request for internal review should be sent within 28 days of the date of the response to:
Chief Financial Officer
ACIAR House 
GPO Box 1571, Canberra, ACT 2601
Reviews will be dealt with in accordance with relevant Agency’s policies and the requirements of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules 2014.
Costs 
There is no cost associated with requesting an internal review.
2.	Other Courses of Action 
If you are dissatisfied with the response from the Independent Internal Review to your complaint, the following courses of action are available to you. 
Alternative Dispute Resolution  
If you are dissatisfied with the response from the Independent Internal Review to your request to your complaint, and you believe a dispute with ACIAR exists in relation to the complaint, you may request ACIAR enter into an alternative dispute resolution process as set out below. 
Subject to your agreement, the following dispute resolution process (or modified version thereof) would be used in an attempt to resolve the complaint: 
(a)	the Chief Executive Officer (or his or her delegate) will try to settle the complaint by direct negotiation with you;
(b)	if unresolved, and you believe a dispute exists, you may give the agency a written notice (including email) setting out the details of the dispute;
(c)	within 10 business day, each party will nominate a representative, not having prior direct involvement in the complaint or procurement process;
(d)	the representatives will try to settle the dispute by direct negotiation; 
(e)	failing settlement within a further 10 business days, the parties may agree to refer the dispute to an independent third person with power:
(i)	to intervene and direct some form of resolution, in which case the parties may agree to be bound by that resolution, or
(ii)	to mediate and recommend some form of non-binding resolution;
(f)	if a resolution is not reached within a further 20 business days, you may commence any other course of action open to you. 
Alternative Dispute Resolution Costs 
Each party will bear its own costs of participating in any alternate dispute resolution process. The parties will bear equally the cost of any third person engaged for the purposes of paragraph (e). 
The agency will co-operate fully with any process dispute resolution instigated by the parties subject to relevant government policies and legislation.
Any request for alternative dispute resolution should be sent within 28 days of the date of the Independent Internal Review letter to:
Chief Financial Officer
ACIAR House 
GPO Box 1571, Canberra, ACT 2601
Commonwealth Procurement Coordinator
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the ADR process you may be able to lodge a complaint with the Procurement Coordinator via the Online complaint form.
Commonwealth Ombudsman
If you are dissatisfied with the Procurement Coordinator's final decision, there may be other courses of action available for you to consider, such as approaching the Commonwealth Ombudsman.