Competitive tendering processes have emerged within Australia's vocational education and training (VET) sector as part of a more general drive to increase efficiency and effectiveness in public administration and government program delivery. Despite the persistence of several issues and stakeholder concerns that must be explored and resolved, Australia's states and territories have adopted a variety of approaches to competitive tendering of VET delivery. There is increasing consensus on the following issues: direct competition between private and public training providers is preferable; a preferred provider approach can increase efficiency; minimum acceptable standards of quality can be achieved through compliance with accreditation and registration requirements and ongoing evaluation of competitive tendering processes; and partnerships/joint ventures are a practical means of achieving increased efficiency and effectiveness. Among the issues requiring further consideration are the following: ensuring processes to achieve equity and access in VET; developing appropriate costing mechanisms to achieve maximum advantage from publicly funded infrastructure; giving clients adequate information to make informed choices; and developing processes for handling student tuition fees and other administrative arrangements within the context of the competitive training market. (The report contains 39 references. Appended are overviews of open market training activities in Australia's states and territories.) (MN)