When submitting a Request for Quote to a State Government department, certain contract conditions must be adhered to.
- The Request for Quote (RFQ) may set out a number of special conditions that will apply if the RFQ is successful and you are awarded the tender to conduct a research project.
- In addition to the special conditions, general conditions of contract (the general conditions) will apply.
- On submitting the RFQ, UWA is agreeing to perform the contract under the special conditions and the general conditions should the tender be awarded.
UWA cannot change the RFQ after the RFQ has been submitted to the State.
The Terms
Special conditions
The special conditions often set out whether the State or UWA will own the intellectual property rights in the material arising out of the research project. They may also contain other terms affecting UWA 's legal rights.
General conditions
The general conditions apply to the conduct of the project in addition to the special conditions. You should be aware that the general conditions affect your and UWA 's common law rights. The next three items (below) are the most relevant to you.
Intellectual Property
If the ownership of intellectual property rights associated with a project is not set out in the special conditions, the default position under the general conditions is that the State will own all of the intellectual property rights.
Moral Rights
You need to be aware that the general conditions contain certain provisions requiring UWA to ensure any contributors to the project consent to infringement of their moral rights in copyright works.
- Publication
Research-related publication is not specifically addressed, although there is a blanket requirement to obtain consent before making any publication, advertisement or media release concerning the contract.
Other issues
Other terms or conditions in the special or general conditions also affect UWA's risk exposure. These relate to warranties, indemnities, confidentiality obligations and insurance undertakings.
Compliance with the tender documents
The RFQ allows a tenderer to set out any conditions of the tender that they are not able, or not willing to comply with.
UWA can therefore choose to state in its tender that it will not comply with certain clauses of the special conditions or the general conditions (or both).
This is called a non-compliant tender.
UWA 's preferred approach to State tenders is to submit non-compliant tenders so that the above issues are appropriately dealt with.
This 'Request for amendments' document outlines the amendments sought by UWA. The document should be included with the tender submission as appropriate. Bear in mind that in a competitive situation the State may prefer compliant tenders over non-compliant tenders, although disagreement over legal terms is rarely the cause of not being awarded the tender.
