Australian Government to Replace Comms Campaign Panel with Agency Village Model

The Australian Government is overhauling its communications and advertising procurement system, moving to an integrated village model.

The Department of Finance, which oversees tenders for advertising services, has released an open request for tender for a new panel of suppliers under the restructured model. The current Government Communications Campaign Panel, will be replaced by a new model called the Communications Campaign Arrangement.

The village will replace the existing panel of advertising and communications agencies, and will appoint specific agencies to thematic portfolios, including Community, Economy, Government Programs and Services, Health and Wellbeing, Infrastructure and Innovation, and Security.

Each village will appoint one agency to each of the five mandated service categories: Market Research, Creative Advertising, Public Relations, Multicultural Communications, and First Nations Communications.

Agencies appointed to each village will have a greater chance of picking up campaign work, and will no longer need to bid for each campaign. They will also be able to work across multiple villages, but not more than one service area within a given village.

The initial contract will run for four years, commencing in July 2026, with extension options available for up to an additional four years.

The current government roster of agencies includes BMF, Clemenger BBDO, Droga5, Ogilvy, TBWA, and VML.

The move is understood to be part of a broader government effort to streamline communications procurement, with creative work usually outsourced to agencies in separate procurement processes.

The new panel structure has not yet been publicly detailed, but could indicate changes to supplier engagement and procurement processes. The current panel comprises 20 approved suppliers for campaigns valued at over $500,000.

The tender doesn’t include the government Media Service contract, retained last year by UM, who retain the contract until June 30th 2028.

According to numbers released by the Australian National Audit Office, spending by the federal government on media campaigns increased nearly 40% last financial year. The department of finance reported a $173.8 million adspend in 2023-24 and a further $76.6 million on consultants and other costs.

The tender period closes on August 11th, with new contracts coming into effect in the following financial year.