How do NSW public schools navigate AMU procurement for outdoor projects?

For NSW public schools, the Asset Management Unit (AMU) plays an important role in helping schools manage their physical assets and navigate works on school sites.

For principals and school teams, that support is valuable. School construction involves procurement, safety, approvals, contractors, compliance and public money. Having an experienced asset team involved helps schools work through those requirements and deliver projects within the Department’s framework.

The most important advice we can give a school is also the simplest.

Talk to your Asset Services Officer (ASO) early.

Processes, procurement pathways and requirements can change. Your ASO is the school’s primary contact within the local School Infrastructure Regional Office for asset-related queries and can advise on the appropriate pathway for your particular project.

An open school playground with play equipment, shade and circulation space

Start with your ASO

If your school is considering a new playground, outdoor learning area, sports space or campus improvement, contact your ASO before assuming which procurement process applies.

Tell them:

what you are hoping to achieve
where the project is located
the approximate scope
what funding may be available
whether you have already spoken with a specialist contractor
when you would ideally like the project delivered

Then ask: what is the correct procurement and approval pathway for this project?

Your ASO can help guide the school through the current Department requirements and identify any other approvals or specialist advice that may be required. NSW Department policy specifically identifies ASOs as the primary local point of contact for asset-related queries and requires them to ensure works are appropriately assessed and necessary approvals are in place.

NSW Department of Education: maintenance and repair callout procedures

What guides government procurement?

NSW Government procurement is governed by a broader framework designed to ensure public money is spent fairly, responsibly and effectively. The current NSW Government Procurement Policy Framework applies to government procurement including construction, and is based around five objectives:

value for money
fair and open competition
making government easy to do business with
innovation
social outcomes and sustainability

Read the NSW Government Procurement Policy Framework

Importantly, value for money does not simply mean choosing the cheapest quotation. NSW Procurement guidance specifically explains that value for money should consider the whole picture, including quality, cost, fitness for purpose, supplier capability and capacity, risk and total cost of ownership. That distinction is particularly important for playground and outdoor construction.

NSW Procurement: value for money

Don’t just ask for a playground. Ask for the right capability.

Outdoor environments for schools are specialist construction projects. They can involve playground standards, impact-attenuating surfacing, drainage, landscape construction, structural elements, accessibility, shade, civil works, planting and the management of construction within an operating school.

When discussing your project with your ASO, make the required capability clear. Ask for a contractor that is appropriately qualified, licensed, insured and experienced in delivering comparable school outdoor environments.

That is not about circumventing competitive procurement or specifying a preferred supplier. It is about making sure the procurement process is comparing contractors that are genuinely capable of delivering the required outcome.

How can schools protect quality in a competitive quotation process?

The best way is to define the project properly. If suppliers are quoting different interpretations of a loosely defined idea, price comparisons become difficult: the lowest number may simply represent a different scope. A clearer brief allows the school and AMU to compare like with like.

For an outdoor project, that may mean clearly identifying:

the required project outcome
scope of works
materials and finishes
relevant compliance requirements
contractor qualifications and licences
demonstrated experience
construction methodology
warranties
maintenance implications
program
exclusions
whole-of-life considerations

This is entirely consistent with the NSW Government’s value-for-money approach. The government’s own guidance says procurement should consider lifetime benefits and costs rather than simply the initial purchase price.

The objective is not to make procurement harder. It is to make the comparison better.

Why we like working with AMU

AMU provides schools with something genuinely valuable: an experienced infrastructure team sitting between the school’s ambition and the realities of delivering work on a government asset. Good collaboration between the school, its ASO, AMU and an experienced contractor can make the process significantly easier.

The school understands its students and community. AMU understands the Department’s asset, approval and procurement environment. A specialist outdoor contractor understands how to turn the brief into a compliant, practical and buildable environment. When those roles work together, procurement becomes part of delivering a good project rather than simply an administrative step.

How Playform helps procurement

This is one of the reasons ULP developed Playform for Schools. Traditional bespoke design can create a difficult procurement problem: the school develops an idea, different contractors interpret it differently, scope changes occur and quotations become difficult to compare.

Playform takes a different approach. The environments have already been designed, resolved and costed as repeatable solutions, which gives schools a much clearer starting point. Instead of asking several contractors “what would you build here?”, the project can begin with a much more defined scope and outcome.

That can make it easier to establish:

what is included
what the school is purchasing
the required quality
the expected outcome
appropriate materials and components
compliance requirements
realistic project scope

It does not remove the school’s procurement obligations. It helps make the project being procured clearer.

Explore Playform for Schools

Where SPROUTS fits

SPROUTS applies the same principle to smaller outdoor improvements. Rather than beginning every project with a lengthy bespoke design process, schools can select from resolved play and landscape elements that have been developed specifically for smaller projects and quicker implementation. For schools and AMU, this can mean a more straightforward conversation around scope, site suitability, delivery and value.

Again, the appropriate procurement pathway is determined by the Department, not ULP. Ask your ASO which pathway applies.

Explore SPROUTS

Plan before you procure

The strongest procurement process starts with a school that understands what it is trying to achieve. Before requesting quotations, establish:

what problem you are solving
which students will benefit
what the site needs
your priorities
the desired outcome
what is essential
what could be staged
how the project fits into the wider school grounds

The ULP School Planning Guide was created to help schools work through these questions before they become procurement questions. If you already have an area in mind, ULP can also help you understand what might be achievable and whether Playform, SPROUTS or another pathway is appropriate.

Important note

Department policies, procurement requirements, approval pathways and financial thresholds can change. The information above is intended as general project-planning guidance, not Department of Education procurement advice.

For the current requirements applying to your school and project, contact your ASO and ask them to confirm the appropriate pathway.