Temporary Workforce Service Provider Market Assessment

Once every 5 years, the ABS is required to engage a large casual Census workforce of approximately 30,000 people across the country.

The ABS are seeking to follow the lead of our international colleagues and looking to engage with potential providers to identify if there are better options for delivering this workforce.

The ABS is looking for a strategic resourcing partner to bring contemporary recruitment knowledge, workforce management and systems expertise to the 2021 Census operations. The ABS believe the right partner (Service Provider) will supplement the ABS' team and experience to deliver efficiencies, value for money and a better overall outcome for the 2021 Census and taxpayers.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics intends to undertake an open approach to market to determine the market’s capability to deliver services for the 2021 Census of Population and Housing, including for recruitment, training, management and payroll of ABS roles for the 2021 Census temporary workforce. The open approach to market is anticipated to be released via a Requested for Proposal/Solution on 28 August 2018.

Prior to this approach, market consultation will be undertaken comprising of the release of draft Statement of Requirements on AusTender on 14 June 2018 and an industry briefing to be held on 5 July 2018.

The ABS is exploring the possibility that the Service Provider could recruit, train, pay and manage a temporary large scale workforce that could undertake non-sensitive services such as hand delivering letters, conducting follow-up visits and collecting complete paper Census forms in secure envelopes.

The privacy of data collected by the ABS is our key priority and will be an important factor of any potential arrangement. Highly trained ABS officers, who have strict obligations under legislation, will continue to be the only personnel who have access to the personal and statistical information collected from Census forms.

In 2021, the ABS want to deliver the most efficient and easy Census for the public and provide quality and safe employment experiences for people who want to work to support our extensive Census operations across the country.