The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts develops and implements national policy, programs and legislation to protect and conserve Australia's environment and heritage and to promote Australian arts and culture.  The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act) is the Australian Governments central piece of environmental legislation.

The EPBC Act provides a legal framework to protect and manage nationally and internationally important flora, fauna, ecological communities and heritage places defined in the Act as matters of national environmental significance. The seven matters of national environmental significance to which the EPBC Act applies are:

• world heritage sites;
• national heritage places;
  
• wetlands of international importance (often called ‘Ramsar’ wetlands after the international treaty under which such wetlands are listed);
  
• nationally threatened species and ecological communities;
  
• migratory species;
• Commonwealth marine areas; and
• nuclear actions.

In addition, the Act confers jurisdiction over actions that have a significant environmental impact on Commonwealth land, or that are carried out by a Commonwealth agency (in which case impact on the environment more generally is considered, rather than impacts on matters of ‘national environmental significance’). The EPBC Act also aims to protect Australia 's unique plants and animals. 

More information on the EPBC Act can be found online at: http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/index.html.

The Department aims to establish a Multi-Use List of specialist experts and suppliers to provide scientific and technical advice in relation to the EPBC Act.

• Application Information (PDF - 134 KB)
• Application Form (Word - 312 KB)
• Short form service contract (PDF - 72 KB)

• Multi-Use List of for the Provision of Scientific and technical advice on issues relating to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act, 1999 (ZIP - 306 KB)

The Department's Water Group is responsible for a number of programs involving the purchase of water entitlements.

The Department aims to establish a list of suppliers who can provide the required conveyancing and other related services to facilitate the transfer of ownership of water entitlements to the Commonwealth of Australia.

• Application Information (PDF - 148 KB)
• Application Form (Word - 92 KB)
• Long form service contract (PDF - 160 KB)

• Project Plan (PDF – 160 KB )

• Steps involved in the Australian Government's purchase of water entitlements(PDF – 24 KB)

• Multi Use List for Water Entitlement Conveyancing and Related Services (ZIP - 271 KB)

The Department’s Film and Creative Industries Branch assists the Film Certification Advisory Board in the administration of the Location Offset and Post, Digital & Visual Effects Production (PDV) Offset as part of the Australian Screen Production Incentive (ASPI).

The Film Certification and Advisory Board is responsible for:

• advising the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts in relation to policy issues relevant to the ASPI in relation to the Location Offset and PDV Offset;
• considering applications for, and issue of, provisional certificates for the Location Offset and PDV Offset; and 
• advising the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts on matters pertaining to the determination under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 of the total of a company's qualifying Australian production expenditure on a film for the purposes of the Location Offset or the PDV Offset.

More information on the Location Offset and the PDV Offset can be found online at: http://www.arts.gov.au/film 

The Department aims to establish a multi-use list of Service Provider’s who are experienced in screen production to provide advice and assist with the assessment of applications for the Location Offset and the Post, Digital & Visual Effects Production (PDV) Offset.

• Application information (PDF - 148 KB)
• Application form - Part B (Word - 213 KB)
• Short form services contract (PDF - 74 KB)

• Independent Film Production Consultants (ZIP - 282 KB)

The Department's Australian Government Natural Resource Management Team (AGNRM) provides integrated implementation of two Australia-wide natural resource management initiatives: the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP) and the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT).

For details visit: www.nrm.gov.au 

The Department aims to establish a multi-use list of service providers with the appropriate skills, qualifications and experience to provide training and education services to NRM regions.

• Application information (PDF - 125 KB)
• Application form - Part B (Word - 97 KB)
• Short form services contract (PDF - 58 KB)

• Provision of training and education services for the capacity building for regional NRM bodies in Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting, and Improvement (ZIP - 161 KB)

The Department's Australian Government Natural Resource Management Team (AGNRM) provides integrated implementation of two Australia-wide natural resource management initiatives: the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP) and the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT).

For details visit: www.nrm.gov.au 

The Department aims to establish a multi-use list of service providers with the appropriate skills, qualifications and experience in developing (evaluative) Performance Story reports, or the capability and capacity to develop the necessary skills to develop the report.

• Application information (Word - 272 KB)
• Application form (Word - 71 KB)
• Short form services contract (PDF - 69 KB)

• Provision of services relating to the development of Performance Story Reports in various regions of Australia multi-use list (ZIP - 123 KB)

The Department's Water Group implements Australian Government policy, programmes and legislation to assist in the sustainable management of the Murray-Darling Basin and our rivers, groundwater, wetlands and urban water. The Water Group is responsible for:

• advising the Australian Government on its policies for protecting water resources; and
• implementing key initiatives of the Australian Government relating to water and water resources.

More information on the Department's role in regards to water resources can be found online at: http://www.environment.gov.au/water/index.html

• Application information (PDF - 85 KB)
• Application form (RTF - 101 KB)
• Short form services contract (PDF - 72 KB)

• Provision of expert and specialised services related to water resources and their administration multi-use list (ZIP - 143 KB)

The Department's People Management Branch (PMB) produces policies, practices, products and services which are high quality, client focused, flexible, cost-effective and efficient in the areas of people management, environmental management systems, facilities and office services.

The Department requires human resource management services including code of conduct, performance management and occupational health and safety (OH&S) workstation assessment services for staff located around the country.

• Application information (PDF - 143 KB)
• Application form (Word - 71 KB)
• Short form services contract (PDF - 69 KB)

• Provision of human resource management services multi-use list (ZIP - 149 KB)

The National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) is a collaborative programme involving all state/territory and the Australian governments. The programme collects emissions data from industry and estimates emissions from a wide range of other sources. It publicly discloses this information on the web site www.npi.gov.au .

The Department is currently reviewing and updating materials provided to industries to help them estimate emissions from their facilities. It is also updating guidelines used to estimate emissions from other sources. There are more than 100 materials currently being considered through this review process.

• Application information (PDF - 125 KB) 
• Company information submission form (Word - 208 KB) 
• Specific skills and experience submission form (Word - 196 KB) 
• Short form services contract (PDF - 68 KB) 

• Review and revision of emission estimation materials for the NPI multi-use list (ZIP - 457 KB)