Homes Victoria Social Procurement Industry Breakfast

Homes Victoria Social Procurement Industry Breakfast

Have you ever wondered what is social procurement? How do I connect with social enterprises to deliver on social procurement commitments? What kind of jobs should I offer priority cohorts as part of my social procurement? You are not alone!

To answer these burning questions

Homes Victoria recently hosted their first Social Procurement Industry Breakfast at the State Library of Victoria. The morning connected 150 guests across building and construction, priority employment, and social benefit and supply sectors, including Master Builders Victoria and its members.

The Inaugural Homes Victoria Social Procurement Excellence in Construction Award

The event kicked off with an opening address from the Hon. Colin Brooks MP, Minister for Housing, who announced the first Homes Victoria Social Procurement Excellence in Construction Award, in partnership with Master Builders Victoria. The award celebrates best practice in social procurement in Victoria and enables organisations to showcase innovative approaches to social procurement in the building and construction industry. The award will be announced at the Master Builders Excellence in Construction Awards in August.

Partnering with Aboriginal Businesses in Social Procurement

Scott McCartney, CEO Kinaway Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce delivered a presentation on the importance of building relationships and partnerships with Victorian Aboriginal businesses. Following the presentation, Scott moderated a panel discussion featuring: Hayden Heta, Managing Director Wamarra Construction, Lisa Mitchell, Business Development Manager and Koolyn Briggs, Project Manager at LCS-I Electrical & Data and Daniel Wells, Director at HDF Corporation.

The panel discussed what was needed

• Healthy risk-taking and an openminded approach to support new contractors along the journey

• Front-load payments as a pathway to enable Aboriginal businesses to access capital to grow their business

• Long-term thinking to consider the positive impact partnering with Aboriginal businesses has on strengthening communities and employment outcomes from contractors to foster quality partnerships with Aboriginal businesses, including:

• Early pipeline planning to enable Aboriginal businesses to grow through secure long-term arrangements

• Unbundling contracts to make smaller contracts more accessible

• Building genuine relationships with contractors to understand organisational values

A Framework for Social Procurement

Social procurement is new, and can be complex to navigate. Social Traders Australia, the peak body for social enterprise, delivered an interactive session and presented a framework for unlocking the power of social enterprises through 6 key organisational areas:

• Leadership and Governance: strong organisational commitment and investment

• Measurement and Reporting: data capability to enable regular spend and impact reporting

• Policy & Process: integrated policies, systems and procedures to support social enterprises and Aboriginal businesses

• Internal Development: dedicated social procurement resources, working groups, internal engagement and education

• External Engagement: networking, supply chain engagement, and connecting with intermediaries e.g. Social Traders and Kinaway

• Planning and Action: engage early with suppliers to understand capability and capacity, analyse spend and unbundle contracts

If you would like to find certified social enterprises in the building and construction sector, try the Social Enterprise Finder on the Social Traders website.

Connecting Contractors and Social Benefit Suppliers

The event concluded with a guided networking opportunity. Representatives from Victorian social enterprises, disability enterprises, and Aboriginal businesses in the building, construction and facility maintenance sectors shared their elevator pitch and answered questions about their business and the social outcomes they aim to achieve in partnership with contractors and subcontractors.

Priority employment agencies also participated as a fundamental element in enabling contractors to meet their social procurement commitments in priority jobseeker employment.

The networking opportunity was well received, with majority of attendees noting it was the most valuable part of the morning. Keep an eye out for the next Homes Victoria event later in the year.

For more information on social procurement at Homes Victoria, visit https://www.homes.vic.gov.au/socialprocurement or email: socialprocurement@homes.vic.gov.au