Agreement Offers for 2026 Subscription Year
On this page
- CAUL Agreement Principles
- Submitting Agreement Offers
- Important Changes for the 2026 Renewal Cycle
- Agreement Offer Contents
- Key Dates
- Useful Information on the CAUL Website
- Key Contacts
CAUL Procurement Service Agreement Principles:
Agreement Principles and guidelines are aligned to CAUL values.
Before submitting any offer to CAUL, please review the latest agreement principles for:
As part of the CAUL Strategy 2023 to 2025, the CAUL Content Procurement Service negotiates agreements on behalf of Member institutions to deliver optimal value to Members, including the best possible pricing models and the most favourable terms, through an assertive and coordinated approach. The CAUL Content Procurement Service delivers significant benefits of cost avoidance and saves time by streamlining procurement workflows. In addition to delivering value to Members through favourable terms and pricing, CAUL is focused on enabling libraries to leverage their existing subscription spend to facilitate increased Open Access publishing.
CAUL is a key stakeholder in the dissemination of Australian and New Zealand research and seeks to increase the visibility and access to scholarly output for its members. In conjunction with Strategic Enabling Programs for Open Access, CAUL undertakes sector-wide work that focuses on enablement of Open Access, which supports institutions in implementing, communicating, delivering, and evaluating their Open Access initiatives.
Submitting Agreement Offers
Vendors must complete and submit their agreement offer via the CAUL 2026 Agreement Vendor Response Form. Vendors will need to complete all required fields in the form as instructed. Vendors are able to save progress and continue via a link emailed to the address provided. A preview version of the form is available for reference purposes only.
All agreement offers must be submitted via the response form. All renewal offers must be submitted via the response form. The form will request vendors upload the following files:
- The ConsortiaManager pricing spreadsheet (which will have been emailed directly to the primary contact)
- Where required, please upload these files in the response form:
- Offer summary and additional proposal documents.
- Other pricing documents relevant to the agreement.
- Spreadsheet listing all articles published by all CAUL Consortium members for 2020-2024. Please indicate the open access status of all articles.
- A copy of the licence template.
- "Red-line" licence version in MS Word showing tracked licence changes.
- MS Word or Excel format showing previous licence clauses and new or changed clauses.
- Privacy policy.
- Data security plan.
- Modern slavery and human trafficking policy.
- Sustainability policy.
- Title lists.
Important Changes for the 2026 Renewal Cycle
- All vendors must submit pricing for all Consortium members, including new and renewing agreement participants.
- CAUL is using a new service QuestionPro to collect offers from vendors. The QuestionPro 2026 Agreement Vendor Response Form will be sent through ConsortiaManager to vendor primary contacts.
Agreement Offer Contents
Instructions for Completing ConsortiaManager Pricing Spreadsheet
- Use the Excel spreadsheet template generated from ConsortiaManager, which will be automatically emailed to providers soon after the invitation to supply offers opens.
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Important!
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- Please feel free to send additional pricing model spreadsheets, including formulae, to show how pricing has been calculated that can be uploaded into ConsortiaManager.
- Please use correct names for Consortium Members as detailed on the CAUL website.
Information about Sample Licence Agreement and Terms & Conditions
- Please submit via QuestionPro, a template of the licence to be used for 2026 agreements
- The template of the Licence Agreement will be uploaded to ConsortiaManager for review by Consortium Members prior to take up.
- Upon offer take-up, Consortium Vendors should issued an executable version of the Licence Agreement, tailored with each member’s institutional details, ready for each Consortium Member for signing
- Consortium Vendors should issue Consortium Members with a countersigned (digitally or physically) Licence Agreement within a reasonable timeframe.
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Important information regarding licence changes: CAUL Procurement will need to review and approve any changes to the licence. Licence changes submitted after 5 September may not be possible to include due to impacts on renewal timeframes below. The CAUL Licence Review Working Group may assist with licence reviews. Any change in the licence, terms, or other documentation related to the agreement from the previous year will require vendors to:
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Key Dates
Please note: CAUL may change dates according to member needs and providers will be alerted to this via email. Should a particular offer progress quickly, the next steps will advance without delay or regard to the key dates, as the dates have been set to simply guide the process, provide appropriate cut-off points and ultimately to ensure a smooth and timely experience for both Consortium Vendors and Consortium Members.
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23 May 2025 |
Vendors invited to begin submitting renewal subscription offers to the CAUL Consortium. The Excel pricing spreadsheet template generated from ConsortiaManager will be auto-emailed to you separately. |
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June/July 2025 |
Offers, including content scope, pricing and licencing terms, refined through negotiation by CAUL and progressively uploaded to ConsortiaManager for members to begin reviewing |
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18 July 2025 |
Last day for vendors to submit offers for the 2025 subscription year |
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August 2025 |
CAUL uploads last batch of offers to ConsortiaManager for members to review |
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5 September 2025 |
Last day for Offers including sample Licence Agreement, to be uploaded to ConsortiaManager for members to review |
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August to September 2025 |
Members complete their review and consideration of Offers |
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| Category A (CAUL invoiced) | Category B (vendor invoiced) | |
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3 October 2025 |
Last day for members to confirm renewal or new uptake of Offers |
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October 2025 |
Orders to vendors placed by CAUL directly from ConsortiaManager |
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October 2025 |
Vendors begin issuing invoices to CAUL |
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25 October 2025 |
Last day for vendors to issue 60-day group invoices to CAUL |
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31 October 2025 |
Last day for CAUL to issue 30-day invoices to members |
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10 November 2025 |
Last day for members to confirm renewal or new uptake of Offers | |
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Mid-November 2025 |
Orders to vendors placed by CAUL directly from ConsortiaManager | |
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Mid-November 2025 |
Vendors begin issuing licence agreements to members | |
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5 December 2025 |
Last day for members to pay CAUL invoices |
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Useful Information on the CAUL Website
- List of Content Coordinators representing CAUL Consortium Member institutions (includes contact details, IP addresses and latest published FTE numbers)
- Information for Consortium Vendors (FTEs, sample pricing models and information about the ConsortiaManager application)
Key Contacts in the CAUL Office
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