Social services agreements and contracts

A Whole of Government approach

The Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services (the department) funds non-government organisations to deliver a range of frontline social services that enable vulnerable Queenslanders to improve their lives.

There are two agreements currently being used:

• Service Agreement – for the majority of service delivery funding; and
• Short Form Agreement – for services or activities that are low risk and generally for funding under $100,000 per annum.

The Service Agreement

The Service Agreement is used for the majority of service delivery funding and is made up of two parts:

1. Service agreement - standard terms
2. Funding and service details ((PDF, 184 KB)) Funding and service details ((DOCX, 82 KB)), which

• align with the whole of government service agreement - standard terms
• specify provisions for the funding and contract information
• include one or more funding schedules
• are specific to funding areas, Children and Family, Seniors and Disability

The Funding Schedules,which form part of the Funding and Service Details and prescribes the funding and services to be delivered and reporting requirements.

Short form Agreement

The Short form Agreement is designed for low risk and low value services or activities. The agreement is made up of two parts:

1. Short form terms and conditions
2. Particulars, in two versions:

• Particulars service provision - general (DOCX)
• Particulars non-service provision - events, products or minor assets (DOCX)

Where an organisation has a Service Agreement in place, funding may be added to the existing Service Agreement though a Funding Schedule, rather than entering into a separate Short Form Agreement.

Key supporting documents and information

Standard Suite of Contracts

The Standard Suite of Contracts is to be used by all Queensland Government agencies as a basis for contracting the delivery of social, economic and cultural services, for the provision of funding to community organisations, and for sponsorship arrangements.

The Standard Suite of Contracts facilitates a contemporary, consistent, 'One Government' approach to contracting of social services and is designed to make it easier to do business with government.

The department's Funding and Service Details templates are available: The Service Agreement - Funding and Service Details (FSD) template. ((PDF, 184 KB)) The Service Agreement - Funding and Service Details (FSD) template. ((DOCX, 82 KB))

Please refer to the department's Procure to Invest (P2i) system as Funding Schedules / Particulars are now developed in-system and hardcopy templates will no longer be used.

Previous versions of Service Agreements

Previous versions of service agreements and specifications are available on the archive page.

Supporting Information

Note: From 1 July 2020, the Queensland Government will pay small business suppliers within 20 calendar days for eligible invoices of any value. Small businesses will be able to claim for penalty interest for all invoices paid after 20 calendar days on a correctly rendered, undisputed invoice/tax invoice. Suppliers will be required to provide notice of late payment.

The Queensland Government On-time Payment Policy can be found on the Queensland Government website.

Service Agreement Resources

• Single & Multi Service special purpose financial report/Acquittal statement ((XLSX, 86 KB))

Understanding Geographic Catchment Areas

Geographic Catchment Areas are generally used in service agreements to identify where funded services will be delivered. Geographic Catchment Areas are also used to map data about services in a common way and better show the coverage and spread of service delivery across Queensland. This information can be used to identify need and gaps in service delivery and to inform the department's future investment decisions.

In service agreements, Geographic Catchment Areas can be described in one of three ways:

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Areas Levels 2, 3 and/or 4 (SA2s, SA3s or SA4s).
2. Child Safety Service Centre Catchment Areas – these will be translated to ABS Statistical Areas for the department's planning and investment purposes.
3. Other - for discrete circumstances when ABS Statistical Areas are not suitable.

The use of the ABS Statistical Areas (SAs) is the department's preferred way of describing the Geographic Catchment Area. Additional information regarding SAs can be found from the Departmental 'Maproom'. The Department's self-serve mapping application is where you can create dynamic maps to search, analyse and print location-based data.

Useful links

• Queensland Government Procurement Strategy (PDF)
• Queensland Procurement Policy (PDF)
• Human Services Quality Framework
• Investment Domains Guideline and Investment Specifications
• Child Safety Licencing
• Information Privacy
• Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Correspondences, July 2011
• Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2011
• Maproom - The Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services location-based mapping application

Contact for further information

If you cannot locate a document on this website, please contact us and we will assist you or provide you with a copy of the document. To discuss the changes further, please contact your regional office.