How to initiate a research task

The first step is to contact the centre so that the research question, assurance activities or education opportunities, associated cost and schedule can be developed. You can contact us by phone on +61 2 5114 5590 or by email.

Defence stakeholders can engage the Centre directly through the Defence agreements manager at the Australian Defence Force Academy as a variation to the Defence/UNSW Canberra contract or as a purchase order. Government and industry stakeholders can engage the centre using a purchase order.

Engage with ADFA Contract Management to commence the process through a S&Q (Survey and Quote, under the ADFA University Contract – 4277). This process will include:

Statement of work which includes tasking requirements, requirements for the timeframe, detail and format deliverables, intellectual property (IP) and security requirements.  

ADFA Contract Management will include the statement of work in the S&Q request and following confirmation of the text with the customer, provide it to UNSW Canberra, formally requesting a quote for that service.

Upon receipt of the quote, the customer unit should evaluate the formal proposal and quote(s). If agreed ADFA Contract Management will provide the final version of the S&Q document for stakeholder consideration and endorsement.

Complete a Section 23 Commitment approval document.  This document should be in the form of a minute and include:

1. Summary of work being undertaken.
2. Background and justification.
3. A summary of the procurement process being undertaken.
4. Funding approval including Cost Centre and Account Codes being used, approval for each financial year involved and approval for ADFA Contract Management to use the cost centre and account code to raise a purchase order and to affect the transaction.

Send the S23 approval, together with One Star Approval, the Endorsement to proceed, and the endorsed S&Q, to the ADFA Contract Management for processing and approval by COMDT ADFA.

Upon finalisation of the required paperwork, the ADFA Contract Management Team will provide the customer with a copy of the signed S&Q and liaise with the customer to raise a purchase order under the S&Q Agreement. Once the purchase order is received work may commence.