Probity and governance

Set high standards for conduct and build an integrity culture reflecting public sector values. Strengthen staff understanding and organisational capability. Achieve transparent and defensible procurement outcomes.

Independent advice from our reputable industry specialists will make your processes more efficient and your outcomes more cost-effective.

What is probity?

Probity is integrity, uprightness and honesty demonstrated by proper and ethical conduct in the procurement sector, and propriety in dealings with the market. It involves ethical behaviour upholding public values, promoting impartiality, accountability and transparency.

What are the benefits?

  • Safeguards your reputation for integrity
  • Ensures that you meet expected standards of transparency, accountability and ethical conduct
  • Helps you withstand scrutiny of a complaint or audit
  • Ensures suppliers’ confidence in your processes and improves competitiveness
  • Achieves more equitable and more cost-efficient outcomes for all participants
  • Minimises complaints and criticism
  • Helps your activities to withstand scrutiny of an audit or review.

What probity services do we provide?

  • Probity audit and advisory services
  • Developing policy and guidelines that embed public sector values in your organisation
  • Advising on and monitoring probity risks in procurement and other processes
  • Providing independent and impartial probity guidance and advice
  • Building practical knowledge about public sector values in your organisation
  • Customising approaches to manage conflict of interest
  • Providing specialist advice on confidentiality, information security and privacy.

Our probity audit and advisory services help clients meet government probity standards especially regarding conflict of interest, confidentiality, ethical conduct and corruption risks. Mindful that the community expects transparency, accountability and high standards of commercial conduct, CourtHeath protects public sector clients from reputational damage.

Our expert probity advice contributes directly to managing risks. We provide probity advisory and audit services for competitive processes including tenders and grants across a range of sectors including construction, general and professional services and ICT.

We work collaboratively with clients in advisory engagements to design practical and efficient probity processes.

On assurance and audit engagements our independent and impartial opinion provides decision-makers with confidence about the propriety of processes that lead to the recommendations they are considering.

CourtHeath has been appointed to provide probity services in both the advisory and audit categories of the Victorian government Professional Advisory Services State Purchase Contract.

To view our probity services brochure, please click below

CourtHeath Probity Brochure

 

To obtain a copy of our latest Corporate Capability Statement for Probity Services, please email info@courtheath.com.au

Procurement – Commercial and Financial Advisory Services

Ensure efficient procurement processes and value for money outcomes when purchasing and investing.

Manage procurement processes with our end-to-end support, and meet optimistic timeframes without compromising integrity. We understand the needs of the public sector

What is procurement?

Procurement encompasses all aspects of the life cycle of planning, acquisition and contract management for your goods and services requirements and works.

What are the benefits?

Best practice procurement:

  • Reduces time spent on procurement activities by streamlining internal processes
  • Identifies your user requirements to meet your business operational needs
  • Efficiently manages your interactions with the market
  • Enhances your organisation’s reputation
  • Achieves value for money

What procurement services do we provide?

  • Managing your procurement processes and other interactions with the market
  • Setting up panels for construction and non-construction goods and services
  • Providing strategic procurement advice, analysing your needs and identifying your procurement options
  • Developing business cases
  • Advising on procurement process issues
  • Developing and reviewing procurement process tools, templates, policies and guidelines
  • Building capability of your personnel to independently manage procurement and manage contracts
  • Evaluating and reviewing programs, contractual arrangements and procurement functions
  • Managing negotiations and contractual disputes

CourtHeath has been appointed to all six commercial and financial advisory services categories of the Victorian government Professional Advisory Services State Purchase Contract.

We provide support to ICT procurements and conduct of competitive processes.

To view our commercial and financial advisory services brochure, please click below.

CourtHeath Commercial and Financial Advisory ServicesTo obtain a copy of our latest Corporate Capability Statement for Commercial and Financial Advisory Services, please email info@courtheath.com.au

Policy development and drafting

Improve your operations and governance with clear policies. Lead your organisation with clear and up-to-date policies and procedures.

Your reputation is protected when your personnel follow conduct requirements. Effective public sector organisations have clear policies and procedures to outline expected standards

What are the benefits

  • Communicates and reinforces organisational values and perspectives
  • Informs all staff of expected behaviour
  • Empowers staff to act according to public sector values
  • Improves defensibility of practices
  • Enables your organisation to respond to audits and reviews

What policy development services do we provide?

  • Developing new policies and procedures to reflect changes in government requirements
  • Comprehensively reviewing and evaluating policies and procedures to reflect current trends
  • Improving the clarity of policy/guideline wording
  • Simplifying procedures by eliminating unnecessary steps
  • Liaising with stakeholders to establish their needs and understand the context

Legal Advice

Choose probity and procurement advice informed by specialist legal knowledge. Navigate the challenges of public sector transactions with legal acumen and decades of legal experience.

Our legal analytical and drafting skills set us apart. Several of our people have legal qualifications and training and are Australian Legal Practitioners.

What are the benefits?

  • Complements probity and procurement experience with comprehensive legal capability
  • Reinforces our probity advice with expert knowledge of legal consequences and ethics
  • Enables review of contractual terms and tender process conditions
  • Protects your organisation from legal process risks
  • Reduces the complexity of legalistic drafting to plain language

What services can be provided by our legally qualified practitioners holding current practising certificates?

  • Drafting agreements and conditions of tendering
  • Developing deeds of confidentiality
  • Simplifying and enhancing conflict of interest and pecuniary interest disclosure forms
  • Reviewing market invitation documents
  • Analysing contractual departures proposed by tenderers
  • Managing tender process challenges

Pauline Bernard holds a current legal practicing certificate and is a Member of the Law Institute of Victoria. As a construction lawyer, Pauline worked in private sector law firms, was a member and mediator in the Building Cases List of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and held senior government solicitor roles.

 

Pauline specialises in:

  • Procurement law including tender process challenges and disputes
  • Contract law
  • Construction law
  • Plain language drafting