New lease application and tender process for estuarine leases

The department offers proposed leases for the purpose of aquaculture via a competitive tender process. The department runs these public tenders twice a year, in March/April and in September/October.

To maximise returns to the community for the allocation of a public resource for a private or commercial use, and to meet good governance standards by providing equal access to a public resource in a fair and transparent process.

To participate in a competitive tender process, a person or corporation must:

• hold a current class A or B aquaculture permit, or
• apply for a new class A aquaculture permit as part of the tender, or
• have an agreement with a current class A permit holder to sublet any lease/s they successfully tender for.

Read the Request for Tender (RFT) document, which will be published on the department’s webpage at Lease Notifications & Tenders as soon the public tender commences.

The RFT outlines all the terms and conditions for the tender. It will tell you how to submit a tender and the closing date for tender submissions. It also provides details on the proposed leases being offered, including what additional approvals may be required and what conditions will be added to the leases if they are granted.

A tender submission must include:

• A completed tender form, which can be found at the back of the Request for Tender (RFT) document. On this form, you must clearly state what lease/s you wish to tender for, and the tender premium you are offering for each one.
• A completed new lease application (PDF, 130.67 KB) form for an estuarine lease. The new lease application must be submitted by the tenderer, who will become the lessee if their tender is successful.
• A completed permit form that is submitted by the proposed permit holder. For an existing permit holder, this will be an application to vary the permit (PDF, 208.59 KB) (to add new area to the permit). For a new entrant, this will be a new class A permit application.

For a tender to be assessed as conforming, a tenderer must:

• comply with the terms and conditions of the tender, and
• submit all relevant forms as part of the tender submission, and
• not be a disqualified person or company from holding an aquaculture permit, and
• not have any outstanding debt payable to the department in relation to annual lease and permit fees, and
• not have a poor record of managing one or more other leased areas (for example, have outstanding clean-up issues on a terminated lease).

You must ensure that all sections of the form have been completed and the correct parties have signed the declaration. It is important to note that the applicants you have identified on the front page of the form will become the lessees if you successfully tender for a lease.

Only a successful tenderer needs to pay the prescribed fee for a new lease application. If your tender is successful, an invoice will be provided to you which will have payment options. You must pay the fee in the specified timeframe.

The proposed permit holder will also need to pay the relevant permit application fee if your tender is successful. If the permit holder is not you, they will be provided with a separate invoice.

More information about these fees can be found in the Schedule of aquaculture fees.

Absolutely. Tender participants should not discuss the details of their tender with other potential tenderers. Sharing tender information compromises the integrity of the tender process and is discouraged by the department.

The department will establish an aquaculture lease tender committee (ALTC), which will consist of two senior officers from the aquaculture business unit and an officer from the department’s corporate services. The ALTC will assess all tenders received. This assessment involves:

• Ensuring that all tenderers are eligible to participate in the tender, and
• Ensuring that all tenders are conforming, and
• Identifying the conforming tender that offered the highest premium for each lease. This will be the successful tender.

Once the ALTC have identified the successful tenderers for each proposed lease that was offered, the lease and permit applications for those tenderers will be assessed. This will involve a detailed review of environmental factors (REF) assessment.

Following this assessment process, the department will notify the successful tenderers, who will be required to pay the tender premium offered, as well as any relevant application fees, within a specified timeframe.

If a successful tenderer fails to meet any of these requirements, the proposed lease will be offered to the next preferred tenderer.

An application for a new aquaculture lease may be refused if:

• the applicant is disqualified from holding an aquaculture permit.
• the applicant fails to complete any requirements of the application or tender process within a reasonable timeframe.
• the applicant has overdue debt that is outstanding for more than 90 days.
• the applicant has failed to clean up a previously terminated lease area.
• the new lease area is not in the public interest.
• the area is deemed not suitable for sustainable oyster aquaculture.

Before an application is refused, the department will write to the applicant inviting them to lodge objections to the refusal of their application.

No. A successful tenderer may need to seek other consents or approvals for the lease they have successfully tendered for (for example, landowner’s consent with Crown Lands, development consent with Council).

The department does not guarantee that any consent or approval will be granted by other agencies or authorities.

A successful tender may also need to meet other requirements of the tender, such as organising for a registered surveyor to undertake a survey of the proposed lease and generate a new lease plan. Failure to meet these requirements may result in the refusal of the new lease application.

If, for any reason, the proposed lease is not granted to the successful tenderer, or if the successful tenderer withdraws their application after the premium has been paid, the tender premium and application fee are not refundable.

An application for a proposed lease inside a priority oyster aquaculture area (POAA) will be assessed under part 5 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) and will not require development consent.

An application for a proposed lease outside POAA will be assessed under part 4 of the EP&A Act and will require a development application to be lodged with Council after landowner’s consent is granted by Crown Lands. Additional fees and charges may be payable to Crown Lands and Council for these applications, which are assessed under an “integrated approvals” process.

If needed, a DA will be lodged by the successful tenderer after the public tender. Do not lodge an application with Crown Lands or Council until you have been advised to do so by the department.

For proposed leases that require these approvals, successful tenderers will not be required to pay the tender premium until these approvals have been finalised. They will need to pay the prescribed fees for the lease and permit applications immediately after the tender.

No. Where Council refuses consent, the department is not authorised to grant the lease.

Most likely yes. Unless there is an available lease plan that is in the GDA 2020 datum and coordinate system, then a new lease plan will be required. This will be the responsibility of the successful tenderer and will be completed after the tender. The survey and lease plan will need to be done by a registered surveyor.

The department will advise the successful tenderer when they need to organise for a survey to be completed.

For more information, please refer to the Aquaculture lease survey specifications.

If the proposed lease has derelict cultivation material, markings and/or structures present, the local compliance officers will inspect the lease soon after it is granted and if required, will issue a notice to comply to the new permit holder.

The NSW Oyster Industry Sustainable Aquaculture Strategy (OISAS) provides detailed information about best practice standards in relation to lease tidiness.

The lessee. After the lease has been granted, the department will provide the new lessee with details on how to mark the lease appropriately. The lessee will be given 60 days to meet these requirements.

Lease signs may be ordered or manufactured as per the specifications outlined in OISAS.

After the lease is granted, the following lease and permit fees will be payable:

• Lease rent – a per hectare rate is charged to the new lessee.
• Permit contribution - a set fee is charged to the permit holder.
• Research contribution – a per hectare rate is charged to the permit holder.
• Lease security - a per hectare is charged to the permit holder, unless they have a refundable arrangement (cash deposit or bank guarantee).

More information about these fees can be found in the Schedule of aquaculture fees.

All lessee and permit holder responsibilities can be found at permit holder and lease holder responsibilities.

More information on the lease tender process can be found at Lease Notifications & Tenders.

For information about the oyster aquaculture industry, you can refer to the NSW Oyster Industry Sustainable Aquaculture Strategy (OISAS).

For any other enquiries, contact Aquaculture Administration at aquaculture.administration@dpird.nsw.gov.au.

This checklist will help you to lodge a successful tender and new lease application:

• Have you read the Request for Tender and do you understand the terms and conditions of the tender?
• Have you completed the tender form? Have all relevant parties signed the form?
• Have you clearly identified on the tender form what lease you are tendering for, and the tender premium you are offering for each?
• Have you completed every section of the new lease application form? Have all relevant parties signed the form?
• Has the proposed permit holder completed the relevant permit application? Have all relevant parties signed the form?
• Do you have any outstanding debt owing on any aquaculture account?
• Do you have any outstanding clean up issues on an any expired or otherwise terminated lease?