Suppliers are checked hardest at tender. Once the contract is signed, most of what a buyer learns about a supplier’s ownership, directors and financial health comes from the supplier, at the next review, or from an administrator’s letter. Distintel watches the public record for every supplier on your panel and tells you when something changes.
Councils, state agencies and corporates each run their own process, but the checks rhyme. Commonwealth buyers add several mandatory ones. Almost all of them rest on what the supplier says about itself on the day it tenders.
| Check | What is asked | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Identity and standingAll buyers | ABN or ACN, trading history, insurances, licences for the work, referees. | DeclaredRegister |
| Financial capacityAll buyers, scaled to risk | Financial statements, a credit report, sometimes a parent company guarantee for larger contracts. | Supplier supplied |
| Conflicts and conductSupplier codes of conduct | Declared conflicts of interest and agreement to the buyer’s code. The Commonwealth Supplier Code of Conduct has been in every Commonwealth contract since 1 July 2024; states run their own. | Declared |
| Tax recordCommonwealth · Shadow Economy PCP | For Commonwealth procurements of $4m+ (incl. GST), a valid and satisfactory ATO Statement of Tax Record. | ATO issued |
| Modern slaveryModern Slavery Act 2018 | Entities with $100m+ consolidated revenue report each year on modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains, so buyers ask suppliers about theirs. | Declared |
| Foreign ownership in technologyPSPF Direction 001-2024 | For technology purchases, Commonwealth agencies ask about non-Australian directors, foreign shareholders and foreign revenue. | DeclaredAssessed |
| Control | What happens | Who reports |
|---|---|---|
| Change of control | Most contracts require the supplier to notify a sale, restructure or change of control, and some let the buyer terminate on it. | Supplier |
| Insolvency events | Contracts usually oblige the supplier to notify administration, receivership or a winding-up application. | Supplier |
| Insurance and licences | Certificates of currency and licences re-supplied at renewal. | Supplier |
| Conflicts | New conflicts of interest declared as they arise, under the supplier code. | Supplier |
| Performance reviews | Quarterly or annual contract management meetings and scorecards. | Buyer |
| Re-tender | The next full check, often years away on a multi-year panel. | Buyer |
The contract clauses above work when the supplier reports. A supplier heading into trouble, being sold, or whose director has a history of failed companies has every reason not to. Between reviews nothing independent checks the registers, so the first sign is often a missed service.
Distintel does not replace your tender evaluation or contract management. It gives your team a second, independent view of each supplier from the public registers, before award and for the life of the contract.
| Your question | What Distintel provides | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Is the supplier healthy? | Company and ABN status, ASIC insolvency and deregistration notices, winding-up applications against the supplier or its group. | Live |
| Who is behind it? | Directors, secretaries and related parties, with every other company each person is linked to, including companies that failed. | Per supplier |
| Who ultimately owns it? | Ownership walked through companies and trusts to beneficial owners on AUSTRAC’s three-tier test, drawn as a structure chart. | Per supplier |
| Who else is it tied to? | Group discovery from one ABN: holding companies, trustees, sister entities and joint ventures, with shared directors across them. | Live |
| Has something changed? | A watchlist over your supplier panel, with alerts on status, officeholder, ownership and notice events. | Live |
| Is it licensed for the work? | Trade and building licences, and home building insurance, where the state publishes a register. | NSW & ACT |
| Is it on a sanctions list? | Screening against the DFAT consolidated sanctions list. | In build |
“Per supplier” items are built from ASIC company extracts ordered for each supplier and then kept current. Rows marked “In build” are not yet generally available.
Filed against the supplier by a trade creditor. Hearing listed in five weeks.
Both in the same trade, both at the supplier’s registered address, both liquidated within the last four years.
Same director, same trade, incorporated last month.
Names and events above are invented to show the format. None of them describe a real company.
Buying for Defence? The defence edition covers DISP membership and foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI).
A list of ABNs or ACNs, starting with critical suppliers and the largest committed spend.
For each supplier: status, officeholders and their history, group structure and ownership chain, as the public record shows them today.
Your team compares it with what each supplier told you at tender. Undisclosed director histories and group links usually appear at this stage.
The panel goes on a watchlist, and changes are sent to the contract owner responsible for each supplier.
We’ll reply within one business day to set up a scoping call.