Government Contracts

Government Contracts 4th edition is a further maturation and refinement of a work that has now been in existence for some thirteen years. It is Australia's definitive legal text on all levels of government contracting, which focuses on the legal issues that may arise in connection with government contracts and which have no parallel in the private sector. It explains the law in a manner that government contract managers and their private sector counterparts doing business with government, will find indispensable. Presented in plain English it is also accessible to the lay reader and lawyers and law students will also benefit from the up to date case law, relevant policy developments and legislation relating to government contracting (principally procurement). Authoritative and respected Government Contracts has been referred to in a number of cases, both in State and Federal courtsin the High Court and in government policy documents. New material in this 4th edition includes: The implementation at Commonwealth and at State and Territory levels of Chapter 15 (government procurement) of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. Implementation measures are discussed in Chapter 1 and the practical consequences of the new procurement regime are explored in Chapter 7 on tendering. Issues of government immunity from legislation take up a substantial portion of this new edition, at the general level in Chapter 4 and in particular application to the all-important Trade Practices and Fair Trading legislation in Chapter 6. Chapter 6 also includes a new table showing how this legislation applies to government at all levels. The current status of derivative immunity following the High Court's decision in Baxter. Discussion of the status of contracts made by regulatory bodies to settle alleged breaches of relevant legislation by the regulated entity. Whether government can promise to compensate a company for taxes it has had to pay. A discernable trend toward not allowing failure to follow legislation to result in an underlying transaction being invalid. Treatment of tendering in Chapters 7 and 8 covers new Australian case law and a succession of cases from other countries with similar legal systems to Australia, in particular Canada. As always with Seddon's work, a careful re-consideration of every aspect of the book has been undertaken providing clarity and comprehensive sources for the reader. This new edition is current to 31 March 2009 and is an indespensible resource for lawyers, government contract managers and their private sector counterparts.