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The Department of Veterans' Affairs (Open Arms) is seeking suppliers for a forthcoming RFT to refresh and expand the Panel of Outreach Program Counsellors that support Open Arms’ national mental health and wellbeing services for Australian Defence Force members and their families. This pre-release notice explains the Department intends to update the Panel to recognise additional eligible professions—occupational therapists, registered nurses, social workers (general) and counsellors—so they may apply to provide Outreach Program Counselling services through the Panel under the Open Arms Model of Care. The notice clarifies that eligibility, application requirements, assessment processes and contractual arrangements will be specified in the RFT, that no evaluation criteria, scoring methodology or commercial terms are being released at this stage, and that the Department may modify or cancel the proposed RFT. The Department currently plans to publish the RFT on AusTender in September 2026 (timeframe subject to change); only organisations or individuals appointed to the Panel can provide Outreach Program Counselling Services and Outreach Providers on the Panel can provide one, two or all three service streams depending on their approvals.