South Australias Industry Participation Advocate

The Industry Participation Advocate is Mr Ian Nightingale. His role is to further the aims of the Industry Participation Policy, ensuring local businesses leverage maximum opportunities from the $3.8 billion of contracts let annually by the State Government. The Industry Participation Advocate leads a dedicated team who investigate and report on new ways to drive local investment, develop strong value chains from the States portfolio of major projects, support the development of an advanced services sector and leverage opportunities for innovation.

From the Industry Participation Advocate

Since taking on the role as Industry Participation Advocate a consistent message I have been hearing is the need to build the awareness across Government agencies about what South Australian companies have to offer. This is not about special treatment or price preferencing, rather it is about opportunities and recognising the important contribution local companies make to the South Australian economy. Many of our companies are world leaders and it is our vision to build and maintain the skills and capabilities needed to successfully compete for Government contracts. Often value for money is not just about least cost. It can take into account other benefits such as jobs, whole-oflife costs including maintenance, servicing, quality and importantly ongoing supplier relationships. I believe the independence of the Office of the Industry Advocate allows us to be a catalyst for change, listening to industry concerns and recommending action to government on procurement reforms. There can be significant benefits to government, the community and local businesses when the tendering and procurement functions are delivered in a strategic and integrated manner. I want procurement to be acknowledged as an economic contributor to the State and for that reason we have commissioned research to better quantify the benefits of procurement decisions when it delivers jobs and investment to the South Australian economy. We will be looking at ways to use that analysis to improve procurement evaluation criteria so it delivers greater economic benefits such as jobs. I will also be recommending changes to the Industry Participation Policy lowering the threshold, so it applies to more government tenders. We are planning to have a number of Meet the Buyer events where local companies will have the chance to meet face to face with senior buyers, project managers and procurement staff to present their capabilities and how they can assist government agencies to meet their purchasing and contracting needs. The first session will be in the th building and construction sector scheduled for 6 September 2013. I am also proposing a Tender Ready scheme to provide seed funding to industry associations to deliver a pilot program to train South Australian companies to write better tenders. Business leaders tell me government contracts are particularly onerous and that unlimited liability and the high insurance levels required are often barriers to participation by local companies, especially smaller businesses. I will be making recommendations for addressing these concerns for low risk, low value contracts. I am also acutely aware of the red tape that plagues companies when they tender and I will be recommending reducing this. There are some simple measures, such as having one pre-qualification system, so companies dont have to constantly keep pre-qualifying. This will be the first of many red tape improvements we will be taking forward.