What constitutes a contracting complaint?

A contracting complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction made to us, about us or a service provider, in relation to staff, services or handling of complaints, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected or is legally required.*

Contracting complaints relate to matters concerning funded contract management. You can make contracting complaints to us about matters such as:

• the way your contract is being managed, and decisions made
• the quality, level and/or timeliness of communication and contracting support provided
• behaviour of our contracting staff
• failure to meet promises or commitments related to managing the contract
• the service delivery practices of another service provider funded by us, such as denying a client access to its services or of providing insufficient service.

A contracting complaint is not a matter that relates to services funded by another agency or that has another specific process for its management. The following aren't treated as contracting complaints:

• disputes
• allegations of misconduct
• issues arising during the negotiation of a contract with a service provider
• privacy complaints
• requests for information
• concerns, feedback and enquiries
• child protection-related complaints raising risk of harm concerns.

* This definition is adapted from the definition of a complaint in AS/NZS 100002:2014, and is based on and the definition used in the DCJ Complaints and Feedback Management Policy (PDF, 645.0 KB).