What insurance do you need for a government IT contract?

Key points

• The NSW ICT Services Scheme Rules set $1 million of professional indemnity for every supplier, and $5 million or $10 million of public liability by tier, plus workers compensation.
• Those NSW figures are a minimum. The agreement for an engagement overrides them, and the high-risk and high-value purchasing framework requires more.
• Cyber is not part of the NSW baseline. An agreement can add it where relevant.
• Queensland's standard QITC conditions require insurance but name no type and no figure. The Details of each contract set them.
• In Queensland a claims-made policy, which professional indemnity almost always is, must be kept for at least four years after the contract ends, unless the Details set another period.

What insurance does a NSW government IT contract require?

This guide covers New South Wales and Queensland. New South Wales publishes its numbers. The NSW Government ICT Services Scheme Rules set out the insurances a supplier must show before entering an agreement with NSW Government:

• Professional indemnity: $1 million, for Registered and Advanced Registered suppliers alike.
• Public liability: $5 million for Registered suppliers, $10 million for Advanced Registered suppliers.
• Workers compensation: for both.

The Rules call those levels a minimum. The current version is 2.2, of August 2023.

NSW's own summary of the scheme's membership requirements, dated September 2024, adds a line the Rules do not carry: product liability of $5 million or $10 million by tier for suppliers of products such as hardware or software.

Do you need $5 million or $10 million public liability for NSW government work?

It depends on your tier. The Scheme Rules approve suppliers at two levels:

• Registered supplier: total value of up to $150,000 ex GST, and low risk. Public liability of $5 million.
• Advanced Registered supplier: total value over $150,000 ex GST, or high risk. Public liability of $10 million.

Read the "or". High-risk work needs an Advanced Registered supplier, with $10 million of public liability, even when it is worth under $150,000. Professional indemnity stays at $1 million in both tiers.

Does a NSW government IT contract require cyber insurance?

Not as part of the baseline. The Scheme Rules say agreements may also specify, where relevant, that additional insurances are required, such as for cyber security or data breaches.

So whether a NSW engagement asks for cyber is decided in that agreement, not in the Rules. What cyber cover does is on our cyber insurance page.

What insurance does a Queensland government IT contract (QITC) require?

The insurance in your contract's Details. The QITC General Contract Conditions, version 2026.01, are the standard terms behind Queensland Government ICT contracts. Clause 4(r) requires a supplier, at its own cost and by the start date of the contract, to hold the insurance policies described in the Details, with an insurer authorised and licensed in Australia or otherwise rated A minus or better.

The template names no insurance type and no dollar figure anywhere in it. We read all 47 pages to be sure. Every actual requirement lives in the Details, a schedule the buying agency fills in for each contract.

Both the NSW Rules and the QITC conditions were still the current versions when we checked them in October 2026.

How long do you have to keep professional indemnity after a Queensland government contract ends?

At least four years, unless the Details set a different period. Where a required policy is written on a claims-made basis, and professional indemnity almost always is, the supplier must maintain it for a minimum of four years after the contract ends, or for whatever period the Details specify.

Claims made means the policy running when the claim is made is the one that answers. So the contract asks you to keep paying for cover on work you have already finished and been paid for. Cover for past work after a policy ends is called run-off cover, and how it works is on our professional indemnity insurance page.

Why does the contract in front of you override the published minimums?

Because the published rules say it does. The NSW Scheme Rules call their levels a minimum. They note that the core terms of the high-risk and high-value purchasing framework require greater levels of insurance. And they say insurance requirements specified in the agreement of any engagement override the requirements in the Rules. Queensland leaves every figure to the Details.

Client agreements, recruitment agency terms, government panels and tenders routinely require professional indemnity and set the limit. Private contracts are usually the bigger number. A $10 million limit is a common contractual requirement on tenders and head contracts, and it tends to arrive inside standard terms a supplier has no realistic ability to negotiate. So published government minimums are the floor of this market, not the middle of it.

IT liability insurance puts professional indemnity and public and products liability in one policy, built for IT businesses. We arrange it at $1 million, $2 million, $5 million and $10 million. Which one is right is decided by the contracts you sign and the work you actually do, not by picking the middle of the list.

Have you been sent a government IT contract to sign?

Send us the insurance clause and the Details or the agreement it sits in. We will tell you what you must hold, how much, from when and for how long.

Talk to a broker on 07 3292 1111

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