Treasury are seeking Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) matter management software from an experienced Seller who can provide any necessary configuration and support services. The integration of their software which will be led by the department.

The Matter Management System seeks to address the ongoing operational challenges and growing legal knowledge management risks faced by the Takeovers Panel (TOP) and the General Counsel Branch (GCB) in managing increasing volumes of legal matters and the associated information holdings. A reasonable number of these cases are complex in nature and are not suited to the current processes used to manage them. Key problems of note:

• Simple yet arduous clerical tasks create an unnecessary burden on the already time-critical nature of the work done by these legal teams.
• Legal knowledge and precedents are difficult to find and access due to a lack of a central repository for matters. Currently, SharePoint, Excel and shared drives are used to store current and historical matters, and SharePoint’s basic search function does not assist in retrieving information quickly.
• A heightened risk of providing inconsistent advice which may expose Treasury to litigation and reputational damage.
• The lack of an adequate interface with external stakeholders who require restricted access to sensitive legal documentation during the matter processes.

The purpose of this RFI is to understand the available matter management Sellers based on the statement of requirements (Attachment A), to fulfil Treasury’s technology need. For the purposes of this RFI, Matter Management refers to purpose-built software for legal teams, and Treasury are not seeking bespoke or customized COTS products at this time (such as a development team to customize a case management tool).

To complete an efficient and value for money procurement process, Treasury ask Sellers to meet the following as failure to do so will render a response as non-compliant:

• Treasury are seeking one response from each seller. Noting that some products may be modular and offer different functionality, these would not be considered separate responses.
• Notwithstanding the above, Treasury will consider responses where both a SaaS and an On-Premises option for hosting can meet the need, noting this would be the same solution under a different implementation approach.
• Treasury are not seeking a response that proposes significant bespoke development effort. This does not preclude respondents from making minor customizations or configuration to their regular COTS matter management product.

The users and their needs

The implementation of a matter management system by Treasury will be a significant step towards establishing longitudinal resilience and ensure a more efficient, robust and consistent approach to legal work. The potential users of the Matter Management system are lawyers and administration staff from the TOP and GCB, as described below.

The TOP is an independent peer review panel that intervenes in corporate control transactions in Australia. The TOP deals with applications from parties who seek a declaration of unacceptable circumstances or orders to remedy a situation that affects the control or potential control of a company. Panel members, who are external to Treasury and have relevant expertise in areas such as law, finance and business, are appointed by the Minister. The Panel operates with the support of an executive team of Treasury staff, who act as case officers, managers, and advisers for each matter.

GCB provides legal advice and support to the Treasury on a range of topics including foreign investment, freedom of information, privacy, and a range of other legal matters. GCB handles requests for legal services from internal clients, and may engage third parties, as well as proactively monitor and respond to emerging legal issues and risks that affect the Treasury's functions and objectives.

A matter management tool will ideally:

• Improve access and management of legal knowledge by making recording and searching current and historical records quicker, easier and more certain,
• Simplify the digital environment for staff by providing an integrated, fit-for-purpose platform for the full range of day-to-day legal work,
• Streamline the drafting and development of legal advice, documents and emails with templates, document generation and automation,
• Be adaptable over time, with the flexibility to scale to demand and accommodate different types of legal matters handled by Treasury, and
• Reduce the administrative burden associated with managing legal matters through automation of time-consuming low value repeatable tasks.

Work already done

Extensive work has been undertaken to understand the business and technical requirements (see Attachment A – Business Requirements).

Technical/business constraints

TOP and GCB operate discreetly and will have different technical environment requirements.

GCB handles highly sensitive information, up to the Protected level. The ability to restrict access not only to other parts of Treasury but also within GCB teams is required.

TOP handles commercially sensitive information, up to the Official: Sensitive classification. TOP regularly engages non-APS appointed panel members who do not have Treasury email addresses. Panel members do not have access to Treasury’s Protected network but will require access to the TOP matter management system to access current and historical matters.