Common collaborative contract terms
Buying through all-of-government contracts can be made challenging by the use of acronyms and jargon. Find explanations of commonly used terms below.
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- Non-disclosure agreements
- School-linked RealMe
- Memorandums of understanding
- Joining documents
- More information
Non-disclosure agreements
To access sensitive commercial information about collaborative contracts and supplier businesses, schools are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
When a school signs an NDA, it means they are agreeing not to share any information that it receives about suppliers of goods and/or services and their pricing with anyone who is not responsible for buying at the school.
An NDA protects a business' commercially sensitive information and ensures that they can continue to provide preferential pricing to the public sector.
Only one NDA is needed
Once a school has signed an NDA for their first AoG contract managed by New Zealand Government Procurement (NZGP), they are not required to sign additional NDAs for future AoG contracts.
You can sign an NDA using the form on the NZGP website:
Non-disclosure agreement form – NZGP(external link)
If you are not sure whether your school has already signed one, contact school.buying@education.govt.nz.
NDA for syndicated contracts
A unique NDA is required to be signed for each syndicated contract and provided to the government agency responsible for leading the syndicated contract.
School-linked RealMe
To access sensitive commercial information through the NZGP website, school staff must use a school-linked RealMe login.
To create a RealMe login, see the RealMe website:
Your school should have a staff member who is responsible for buying. They will need to link their personal RealMe to the school account on the NZGP website.
This can be done through the login/register link on the website:
Login/register – NZGP(external link)
When signing up, ensure that you:
- tick the "I'm authorised to access commercially sensitive information on all-of-government contracts" box
- enter your school email address
- enter the name of your school in full (not an abbreviation).
Once completed:
- an activation link will be sent to your school email address
- click on the link in the email and re-login with your RealMe account
- you will need to accept the terms and conditions before your account can be fully activated.
Concerns about using a personal RealMe
The NZGP site will only allow RealMe as a form of log in. No unique or personal information is tied to an account, given to us or passed on to another agency.
As soon as we are notified that a person with a school-linked RealMe account is leaving their role, access to sensitive information on the NZGP site will be removed from the RealMe account.
Memorandums of understanding
A memorandum of understanding for an AoG contract sets out the relationship between NZGP and the participating school for a specific contract.
It states the key points in the contract between NZGP and the supplier business. These are the AoG terms that the school is signing on to.
It also states the responsibilities of NZGP and the participating school.
Every AoG contract has its own unique MoU. It can be found in the ‘contract documents’ section on each contract's page on the NZGP website.
When a school signs a 'letter of accession' (or a joining form) for an AoG contract, they are agreeing to the terms of the contract’s memorandum of understanding.
Joining documents
A joining document is an agreement to be part of a contract. It means your school agrees to the terms of a specific AoG contract’s memorandum of understanding and the contract itself.
Once you have signed an AoG contract's joining document, your school is able to participate in that contract.
A new joining document must be signed for each contract joined.
At times, other terms for 'joining document' may be used. Other terms include:
- letter of accession (LoA)
- form of accession (FoA)
- joining form.
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