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Factsheet: EU-New Zealand Trade Agreement - Public procurment

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EU-New Zealand Trade Agreement

Public procurement is the process by which public authorities purchase work, goods and services from companies. New Zealand’s spending on government procurement contracts is estimated at NZD 51.5 billion each year, amounting to approximately 20% of GDP*.

Benefits of the EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement

The EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (‘FTA’) will make it easier for EU businesses to bid for government contracts in New Zealand through the opening of new market access opportunities and commitments to make the tendering process more transparent.

New Zealand has opened up its procurement market beyond market access commitments already taken under the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) and other free trade agreements. New commitments cover:

  • One Central Government Agency (the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development);
  • Fifty-three Crown Entities and Crown Entity Companies, including Callaghan Innovation, New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, the Pharmaceutical Management Agency, and New Zealand Growth Capital Partners Ltd; and
  • Ten Public Finance Act Schedule 4A Companies, including City Rail Link Ltd, Crown Infrastructure Partners Ltd, and New Zealand Green Investment Finance Ltd.

New Zealand’s process for procuring

Openly advertised procurement opportunities in New Zealand can be found on the comprehensive platform New Zealand Government Electronic Tenders Service (GETS). Approximately 20% of the total spend on procurement in the financial year ended March 2023 was awarded via GETS.

All procuring entites covered by the Rules and international agreements, including the EU-New Zealand FTA, must use GETS for procurement above the monetary threshold, unless an exemption applies. If an exemption applies, the agency must use either a closed competitive process (with a limited number of known suppliers) or a direct source process (with a known supplier) instead.

Registration on GETS is required if you wish to respond to tenders.

New Zealand also has a platform where EU firms, can register their interest in providing software as a service (SaaS), consultancy and professional services, managed services and enterprise software to the New Zealand Government. This platform is known as Marketplace.

Types of contracts