ABORIGINAL
Aboriginal and Social Procurement policies Omesh Jethwani, Government Projects & Programs Manager in-conversation with Charleene Mundine, Founder, Owner and Director — DLCM; Owner — Gali Solutions and Founder of the Black Women of Western Sydney (BWOWS) Network, on Aboriginal and Social Procurement Policies. Charleene is a traditional owner from Bundjalung, Yuin, Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) and Anaiwan nations with family connections to the Gumbaynggirr and Eora nations. 1. What were the influential factors that gave birth to the inception of DLCM? I worked at JLL on the Defence Estate Program and struggled to identify Aboriginal construction companies to deliver our projects. The two main issues I kept facing were identifying and on-boarding suppliers. The existing public lists did not provide the information I required to make an informed choice of which suppliers to approach. When I did approach Aboriginal suppliers for a quote or to respond to an RFT, they often struggled to demonstrate their capabilities within their submissions. So I left and created a database of prequalified suppliers. Our database aims to provide the industry with easy access to suppliers. Clients provide us with a list of requirements, and we identify who can deliver based on the outcome of their evaluation. We achieve this by running the Aboriginal suppliers through a tender evaluation of a previous submission. This work has led to us developing ongoing business development support for Aboriginal suppliers. Once we know their strengths and weaknesses, we provide target mentoring, coaching, and upskilling to move their business forward. For example, we help them develop and implement Health, Safety, Environmental and Quality Management Systems, ensure they have the proper licences and insurance level and co-create their suite of bid submission documentation.
Yes, I am proud that DLCM is a 100% Aboriginal owned, Supply Nation Certified business and that our workforce is predominantly female, all of whom identify as Aboriginal. 3. What services does DLCM provide, and which industries does DLCM generally target its services? We commenced providing end-to-end procurement services, including bid submission development, for Tier one and two construction companies. We also provided business development support for Aboriginal enterprises, upskilling them in the art of bid submission. Due to our expansion into providing broader ESG services, our consultancy arm now works across several sectors. Our services have expanded to include HR functions, Environmental and Sustainability, and Community and Stakeholder Engagement. As a result, the business has several services. • Social performance management — utilising our new Social Performance Integrated Management System. • Bid submission management — managing and writing the Aboriginal (Indigenous) Participation Plans, Social Procurement Framework, Local Industry Development Plan (LIDP), Major Project Skills Guarantee (MPSG): Local Jobs First responses. • Business development for Aboriginal businesses and Social Enterprises.
Our database saves our client’s time and money because we have done the hard work in the first instance to understand the supplier’s ability. Where there is a limited capability within the organisation, we work one-on-one with them to respond to an ATM and commence work on a project.
4. DLCM has recently developed a new sustainability management system. The specific focus is across social performance and compliance — aligning with First Nation and Social Procurement policies. Tell our readers more about it.
2. IS DLCM registered with Supply Nation, and is DLCM a 100% Aboriginal owned company?
For years the construction industry has struggled to consistently capture accurate data across ESG. Part of the problem has
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MBA NSW | Issue One | January-March 2022
been the silos that exist across business functions and projects. For example, the procurement manager may not have oversight of the Aboriginal spending undertaken by the community and stakeholder team. This can lead to Aboriginal spending being left unaccounted for within project reporting. Secondly, we recognised the inconsistent ESG language and contractual obligations across Federal, State and Local governments and business sectors. DLCM has standardised the raw qualitative and quantitative data capture across procurement, HR, community and stakeholder engagement, and environmental and sustainability functions to address this. The raw data is processed, cleansed, analysed, and finally allocated to their reporting line, such as Aboriginal spend, regional participation, and increasing opportunities for women in nontraditional roles. The data gets aggregated back into their business functions, so each project can also report against internal policies such as a corporate social responsibility strategy or Reconciliation Action Plan. Finally, we have developed unique second party social compliance, and third-party social performance audits as part of our system. DLCM’s Social Compliance Audit is an inspection of your external suppliers to verify whether your supplier’s operations comply with social and ethical responsibilities measured against your internal policies and Government policies and laws. Our third-party Social Performance Audit evaluates, measures, and reports projects and an organisation’s cultural, social, and ethical performance. Businesses can use the results of a project’s audit to demonstrate compliance against a contract. While an organisational audit demonstrates to internal and external stakeholders your commitment to ESG. Noting the NSW State Government has committed to audit 5% of APPs, our Integrated Management System supports businesses to ensure compliance. Our holistic data capture
