Consultancy services

What's covered

The consultancy services contract includes services in the following categories of:

• Accounting
• Assurance
• Audit
• Business change
• Finance and economics
• Human resource
• Marketing and public relations
• Operations management and risk
• Policy, research and development
• Procurement and logistics

Providers may also have additional focus areas in each category. Each category lists examples of the types of services that might be offered. This list is not exhaustive.

If you're unsure whether your project is within scope of this contract, email the Consultancy services team.

Accounting

Accounting focuses on services around advisory and business accounting, along with reporting and compliance.

• Accounting advisory services (technical and transaction)
• Business accounting services (bookkeeping, payroll etc.)
• Financial reporting, compliance and accounts preparation

Assurance

Quality assurance and advice, including:

• Independent quality assurance
• Technical quality assurance.
• Health and safety assurance services
• ‘SafePlus’ assessment and advisory services

More information on SafePlus is available through WorkSafe:

About SafePlus | WorkSafe

The Government Chief Digital Officer (GCDO) has established a GCDO assurance services panel. This panel offers eligible and mandated agencies a choice of 25 providers specialising in Independent Quality Assurance and Technical Quality Assurance services for digital investments. Visit the GCDO assurance services panel page for further information.

GCDO assurance services panel (sub-panel)

Audit

Services in this category include:

• Compliance and regulatory audit
• Financial statement audit
• Forensic accountancy investigations and fraud audit
• Health and safety auditing services
• Internal audit, internal investigations and advisory services
• IT systems audit
• Probity audit
• Special purpose audits and review engagements

Business change

Advisory services on business change processes and methodologies, to ensure organisational change is successfully planned and executed.

• Business analysis and benchmarking
• Business change:
  • planning and implementation
  • strategy - advice, development, and review
• Business continuity and disruption planning
• Cultural capacity building
• Customer service improvement
• Business process improvement
• Lean, Six Sigma, TQM, and Kaizen process re-engineering
• Organisational change management
• Programme and project management

Finance and economics

This category includes advice on:

• Appraisal of investment proposals
• Economic analysis and modelling
• Financial strategy
• Investment and banking services
• Project financial management
• Public Private Partnerships
• Systems and solutions
• Actuarial services

Human resource

Human resource (HR) consultants advise organisations or agencies on the management and development of their workforce. Services in this category include:

• Applying employment legislation
• Capability and performance management
• Employment relations (including HR guidance and best practice)
• Employment implications of restructures and outplacements
• Health and safety:
  • appraisals
  • policy and development
  • hazard registers and reporting
  • systems development
  • training
  • mental heath initiatives
  • health, safety and wellbeing risk management advice and guidance
• Organisational change and design
• HR programme and project management
• HR strategy - advice, development and review
• Leadership development and coaching
• Learning and development
• Return to work services

Marketing and public relations

Marketing consultants focus on developing strategies to successfully promote, sell and distribute goods and/or services to targeted groups of end users.

Public relations consultancy services means helping your organisation to manage the flow of information between you and the public.

Services in this category include:

• Communications strategy - advice, development, review
• Marketing:
  • programme and project management
  • strategy - advice, development, review
• Public relations:
  • programme and project management
  • strategy - advice, design, review

Operations management and risk

Operations management includes services relating to business process and quality improvement plans, through reviews of operating models and their design.

Risk advisory services relate to risk identification, assessment and management, and security and safety systems.

• Business continuity planning
• Business process management
• Emergency response capability development and disaster recovery planning
• Exposure monitoring
• Health and safety governance advice
• Health and safety investigations
• Health surveillance and workplace health monitoring
• Operations management:
  • operating model development and design
  • procedure definition
  • strategy - advice, development, review
  • programme and project management
• Reporting and monitoring frameworks
• Risks:
  • identification, treatment and management
  • developing a risk register
  • strategy - advice, development, review
• Transaction and data processing

For security risks in technology environments, there’s a specific sub-panel of this contract, called ‘Protective security services.’ Services from this sub-panel help agencies to better manage business risks and assure continuity of service delivery. 

Protective security services panel (sub-panel)

Policy, research and development

A policy consultancy helps agencies with developing and evaluating public policy initiatives in the New Zealand context. Research and development (R&D) includes investigative activities.

Services in this category include:

• Policy development and design
• Strategy development and review for policy and R&D projects
• Programme and project management for policy and R&D projects
• Cultural competence research and policy development
• Energy policy research and development
• Legislation development and machinery of government
• Māori and Pacific peoples policy (including Treaty of Waitangi)
• Public policy
• Research services (including ICT-related research, market research and surveys)
• Evaluating success and outcomes of policy

Procurement and logistics

Services in this category give advice and assistance on:

• Health and safety, including from a user-centred design perspective 
• Overlapping duties risk profiling
• Procurement and logistics policy, strategy and design
• Spend analysis
• Project safety services (contractor management)
• Sourcing (excluding Public Private Partnerships)
• Supply chain (including logistics, strategy, policy, and inventory management

Taxation

Taxation includes advisory services on:

• preparation and planning.
• compliance

What’s not covered

Consultants are covered by this contract. 

Contractors are out of scope and are covered by the All-of-Government Talent acquisition services contract instead.

Talent acquisition services contract

The difference between contractors and consultants can be hard to define. A contractor is hired directly to perform duties that would normally be provided by an existing staff member. They’re under the direct supervision of the agency that hired them, and that agency carries any risk associated with their work. 

By contrast, a consultant provides a service that’s linked to a defined outcome, with agreed milestones, and is supervised by the consultancy organisation. The consultant, or the company from which they come, is ultimately responsible for ensuring the quality and timeliness of their work. 

For more help in telling the difference between a contractor and a consultant and deciding which contract you should use, read this guideline document:

Property and construction consultancy services are not covered by this contract, and instead have their own specific contracts:

Property consultancy services

Construction consultancy services

How it works

Each subcategory of services has a range of providers to choose from. Some providers work across multiple subcategories.

To use this contract, you first have to join. There’s more information on the joining process in this section below:

Joining this contract

Once you’ve joined, you’ll need to determine your requirements.

Then, you can directly source a provider from the panel, or shortlist providers before selection.

Once you’ve chosen a provider, use the Consultancy Services Order (CSO) template to record the terms agreed. There might be other documentation (like briefs and variations) that you can attach as appendices to the CSO. The CSO template is in the Contract documents section at the top of this page.

More detail on the selection process, briefing, and due diligence is on the Using the consultancy services contract page.

Using the consultancy services contract

Features and benefits

• Access to a range of providers offering quality and good value for money services
• Ease of process and engagement through a standardised consultancy services order
• No need to negotiate individual terms and conditions with individual providers, or do a full procurement process on GETS
• Clearly specified maximum rates for each provider
• Rates can be negotiated if required
• Standard rates can be negotiated if needed, resulting in further value for money against market rates
• Provider rates can only increase with the approval of New Zealand Government Procurement (NZGP), and only once in each two-year period
• Support from the contract team at NZGP

Joining this contract

To purchase consultancy services using this contract, your agency or school first needs to join.

If this is the first All-of-Government (AoG) contract your agency or school is joining, you’ll need to:

• check that your agency or school is eligible to join
• sign a non-disclosure agreement
• create a RealMe login (to access the joining documents below).

Find more detail on these three steps at Joining AoG contracts.

Joining AoG contracts

Once you have completed this process, or if you’ve joined AoG contracts before, the next step is to read the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the consultancy services contract.

If your agency agrees to the terms of the MoU, sign and submit the online joining form. The MoU and joining form are in the Joining documents section below. You need an agency login to access it.

Once we receive your joining form, we’ll be in touch to confirm that your agency or school has been approved to participate in this contract.

You can then purchase consultancy services using this contract.

Joining documents

Additional contract date information

In both December 2017 and December 2020 a refresh was undertaken for all 11 sub-categories and new providers added. The latest refresh closed 30 June 2021.