About Nick

Nick advises government agencies on complex ICT procurements and disputes. He has drafted bespoke contracts and contracts based on SourceIT, ProcureIT and ASDEFCON templates. He has also advised on RFT documentation and procurement strategy, compliance with law and policy and evaluation and negotiation processes. Nick has experience drafting and advising on performance based contracts, design and review processes and agile development processes. Having previously worked in the Commonwealth Government (in the Attorney General’s portfolio) and on secondment with the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, Nick is well positioned to help government clients achieve appropriate resolution of issues in line with policy and Commonwealth objectives. Given his breadth of experience advising on IT procurement and negotiating with major vendors, Nick will be able to provide efficient and proactive legal services.

Experience

• Digital Transformation Agency

  Whole of Government Agreements and Panels – advised the DTA on the establishment and management of various major whole of Government agreements and panels, including major vendor agreements with Oracle, SAP and Microsoft, as well as the Telecommunications Services Panel and Cloud Services Panel. These tasks have included providing strategic procurement advice, preparing draft panel and contract documents and advising on negotiations with vendors.

• Department of Defence

  Chief Information Officer Group – advised Defence’s CIOG on numerous major procurements including its $2b procurement of Terrestrial Communications services, its End User Support Services contracts and its procurement of a Core Simulation Capability. In these matters Nick helped Defence develop procurement documentation using ASDEFCON templates and advised on contentious negotiations.

• Australian Taxation Office

  Dispute with HP – advised on negotiation and resolution of a dispute with Hewlett Packard over a storage area network outage that brought down the ATO's systems. This included providing prospects advice, drafting a deed of settlement and advising on negotiation strategy.

• Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet

  IBM software audit – advising the DPC on the management of an audit regarding the use of IBM software by various Victorian Government agencies. Nick has provided specific advice on the interpretation of relevant contracts and strategic guidance on the management of the audit.

• Department of Human Services

  ICT transformation – worked closely with DHS for many years on a series of procurements related to its ICT environment. These have included the procurement of new ‘back end’ hardware to support payment processing functions and the procurement of a customer experience management system. Nick has also advised DHS on a series of contracts for outsourced delivery of call centre services.