Sneak Peak - Conference Program

Building Procurement Capability and Embracing Innovation

A brief synopsis of session topics.

Topic: Are diversity and integrity essential ingredients for performing teams?
Presenter: Sue Woodall –  Paradigm2c

Diversity and inclusion are at the core of high-performing companies.  As procurement leaders, a key question for us is ‘how diverse’ are we as leaders’.  Do we have sufficient diversity in our networks, experience and style to drive innovative, competitive value to our stakeholders?

Few would disagree that integrity is the cornerstone for performance.  As procurement executives managing expenditure of more than $100M, are we confident we have integrity and transparency across the supply chain and in our suppliers’ supply chain?

Topic: The emerging role of technology in driving social procurement outcomes
Presenter: James Leathem –  Chief Executive Officer, VendorPanel

Social procurement is quickly becoming a powerful tool by which organisations can channel existing spend to make a real positive impact for their community. Some of the challenges however are, how to navigate the breadth of ‘social’ and ‘minority’ suppliers, and how to tap into higher volume of lower risk procurement activities as a driver of positive change, more relevant to SMEs. This topic explores these opportunities and challenges, and the emerging role of technology in this area.

Topic: The "Value" of quantifying value!
Presenter: Harry Banga – Partner, SimPPLY

Procurement has the opportunity to establish a true value proposition beyond the tender process. This value can also be quantified, thus allowing the tender activities to be in the context of a holistic stakeholder and customer centric support model.

This session will propose greater upstream and downstream value propositions and the role procurement can play in increasing this value, as well as how this value can be quantified for greater benefits to the business and customers/ratepayers.

Topic: Smarter Cities & Communities – Making Sense & Making it Real
Presenter: Merrick Spain – Smart Cities Lead, Telstra Enterprise

The national ‘smart cities’ initiative is forcing councils to innovate and change how they address future economic, demographic and environmental challenges. From the start, the emphasis in the Smart Cities conversation has been on understanding the role that technology can play in delivering socio-economic benefits for councils. In more recent times, there has been widespread recognition that approaches need to be centered on communities, but for many cities and their communities, the conversation has not progressed further. Cities have been slow to build this understanding in context of the lack of experience with the relevant technologies given their recent advent.

An avalanche of technologies like IoT, Big Data and Connected Autonomous Vehicles hold the potential to dramatically improve service delivery, provide evidence-based decision making and deliver a range of other benefits for councils, but more broadly underpin enormous social and economic gains. Let's explore the breadth and depth of these opportunities and get some insight into what cities around the country and abroad have already done and are doing, and how council’s should approach taking their next steps.

Topic: Make your procurement documents capable to manage innovation.
Presenter: Monica Kelly – Principal, Prevention Partners NSW

In keeping with the theme of innovation in local government procurement, and maintaining our focus on avoidance of corporate risk in tendering, this session will discuss how to best manage the intellectual property that accompanies many contracts.

Topic: ISO 20400 – A guide to integrating sustainability within procurement.
Jean-Louis Haie – Director, Action Sustainability Asia Pacific

The first international standard on sustainable procurement, ISO 20400, was published in April 2017. The session will provide a quick overview of the standard and how it can be used to efficiently achieve social, environmental and economic outcomes through procurement, as well as a presentation of the new LGP ISO 20400 training to be launched in February 2018.

Topic: Procurement capability delivering value to your organisation into the future.
Presenter: Jonathan Dutton – JD Consultancy

As savings continue to diminish over time, procurement has to find other ways to bring value to the organisation, whilst pressurised councils seek better outcomes for less resources. 

Stakeholders are demanding ever more from busy procurement teams – and redefining success at the same time. Sustainable and transparent procurement, socially responsible supply chains, real-time probity & compliance and better outcomes are all expected. 

Meanwhile, the three levers to improve procurement capability (People, Process & Technology) are fast becoming only two. As good process and technology become indivisible, how can procurement teams today merge these seemingly competing forces of higher expectations and lower resources  into a formula for success?

Panel Sessions

• Procurement supporting counter terrorism measures
• Autonomous and driverless vehicles

Registration

• Early bird rate: $990 inc GST (available until 3 November)
• Standard rate: $1,320 inc GST (available from 4 November)
• Special rate: free attendance for general managers and directors, when attending with a registered council officer.

Cost includes

• Full attendance at the two day conference
• Conference pack
• Conference dinner on Thursday evening

Nominations now open for the Local Government Procurement Awards.

The Local Government Procurement Awards celebrate those procurement professionals or groups who are making a difference in local government and their community. The Awards recognise excellence and best practice in the field of procurement within the local government sector.

The awarded recipients will receive a personalised plaque and professional development training of the winner's choice to the value of $2,500. The Awards will be presented at the Local Government Procurement 2017 Annual Conference dinner on 30 November 2017 at the Sydney Masonic Centre.

There are three categories open for nominations, and you can nominate yourself, another person or organisation. The closing date for nominations is 1 November 2017.

• Procurement Professional
  To be eligible the nominee must have a minimum 2 years experience in procurement within NSW local government
• New Procurement Professional
  To be eligible the nominee must have less than 2 years experience in procurement within NSW local government
• Sustainable Procurement Initiative
  This award is for either an individual or organisation that has demonstrated exceptional sustainable procurement work

For further information or to download the nomination form view the LGP website, or contact Emma Murray, Marketing and Communications Manager or 02 8270 8710.

The Local Government Procurement Conference is an established industry event for NSW local government. The conference provides a unique opportunity for suppliers to showcase their goods and services to a cross section of procurement professionals from across the state over two days.  It is also an excellent opportunity to attract potential customers and build on existing relationships already established.

The conference will be held on Thursday 30 November and Friday 1 December 2017 at the Sydney Masonic Centre, 66 Goulburn Street Sydney.

Sponsorship opportunities are limited. Suppliers who wish to participate as a sponsor or as a trade exhibitor can view our Sponsorship Prospectus.

LGP provides a range of innovative learning and development solutions tailored specifically for NSW council staff, delivered via different mediums including face to face and online mode. Through the extensive and exciting gamut of training programs in procurement, LGP can support you in achieving the best outcome from your suitably qualified and skilled staff members.

LGP training programs are offered as the following three suites and you can learn more about each by clicking on the relevant links:

• eLearning: LGP’s eLearning programs use state-of-the-art technology, to deliver cost effective training, specifically designed for NSW local government employees engaged in purchasing, quoting, tendering and contract management. Please click ProcureLearn for more details.
   
• Face-to-Face Training: LGP's face-to-face training features a range of interactive and leading practice modules, covering critical areas of procurement and contract management. Please click LGP Learning Centre for more details.
   
• Nationally Recognised Training (NRT) in Procurement: In partnership with ProLeaders Academy (Registered Training Organisation) LGP offers three Accredited Nationally Recognised Training from Certificate-IV to Advanced Diploma levels, customised specifically for NSW local government employees. Please click Procurement Qualifications for more details.

Grab this opportunity to partner with LGP for your procurement training needs.

There are limited seats available for the following courses listed below. 
Register now!

Training Calendar and Registration

To contact LGP Training, email or call 02 8270 8709.

An acquaintance was lamenting the ‘cost’ of lawyers. His company (the ‘Principal’) had found itself looking at a dispute with a contractor. The Principal believed its position to be very strong, so engaged legal counsel to discuss the issue. Legal counsel agreed, in principle, that the Principal’s position would be worthy of litigation through the Courts should the Contractor fail to meets its contractual obligations.

The contractor continued to resist its contractual obligations and so the Principal’s lawyer recommended they engage a barrister in readiness to commence litigation.

The barrister met with the Principal for a verbal discussion to confirm the strength of its position.  All seemed reasonable, so the barrister requested a copy of the contract.  The barrister read the contract in due course and sought a further meeting to understand the operation of the contract.  The barrister promptly advised that there was unclear terminology, phraseology and use of several different terminologies to name the parties within the contract. Another face to face meeting became necessary.

At the following meeting, the Principal explained the terminologies and apologised citing for instance that ‘supplier’ should be read as ‘contractor’ and ‘this contract’ means the same as ‘this agreement’.  The word ‘foods’ was actually just a typographical error, which should read as ‘goods’!  The word ‘goods’, by the way, meant the same as ‘goods’, ‘goods and services’ and ‘supplies’, which were all referred to at different places in the contract, or agreement, depending on which way you want to refer to the document.

It became evident that the drafting of the document contained a number of other drafting flaws. When considered as a whole, these simple grammatical matters undermined the ability to argue the validity of the contract. (Contracts may be valid, void, voidable, unenforceable or illegal.) In part due to the cumulative effect of these weaknesses, it was decided to avoid litigation if possible and seek to resolve the dispute via a meeting of senior officers from both parties. Cost of legal involvement to reach this point: AUD$25,000. 

…………Or should that be the ‘cost’ of words?  Endeavour to make sure your words are consistent and grammar correct!

Parallel Procurement Processes
Is it simply a question of fairness???

Part 1

by Jessica Jones, Business Development Manager, Northern Region

Government organisations are all endeavouring to achieve the best possible outcomes for our communities through our procurement practices. Sometimes this leads an organisation to run multiple processes in an aim to obtaining the best possible price. Whilst this may seem to be an attempt at being diligent, organisations need to ask themselves “are we being fair?”, or in some circumstances, “is what we are doing even legal?” or better still, “is this the definition of ‘Value for Money’?”

A few years ago, David Baird, Principal, Baird Lawyers, presented at an LGP Conference on this very topic. The article written by David, takes a closer look into the topic of parallel processes from a legal and governance standpoint.

The notion of running parallel processes is also a question of fairness!  Is there consideration of the impact on those tenderers that have already made it through one selection process? Has there been consideration as to the effort that has been undertaken in tendering, not only for the organisation (council, ROC/JO, LGP, State Government etc.) but for that of the tenderer?

Quite often we hear about buyers comparing pricing under an LGP contract and then also seeking quotes or tenders from suppliers outside of the relevant contract. Even if the buyer were to compare their tender submissions with the pricing on the LGP contract, this indeed may not be a fair process, as the pricing on the LGP contract is maximum pricing provided prior to the final specification and configurations being known. Without the  exact requirement of the buyer known to the suppliers, there is no way to do a fair comparison for an LGP contract without running an RFQ via VendorPanel to the suppliers based on the buyer’s actual requirement. And, in this instance, many would deem the simultaneous actions to be inappropriate. In LGP’s opinion, there are two options available:

1. Obtain quotes under the LGP contract via VendorPanel. If the buyer does not find value in this process, then the buyer must reject the offers and then proceed with an alternate process in its own right; OR

2. The buyer runs a tender/quotation and if it is not happy with the outcome, then they must reject all offers and then may proceed to quotation under the LGP contract or other alternate process.

However, we are all aware that this would be a costly exercise and incredibly frustrating for the suppliers.

Should we also be considering probity principles in this decision? Perhaps we need to reflect on the ‘big picture’? This will be explored further in Part 2 in the November newsletter.

Audit and Audit Managed Services Survey
T1.18

LGP in consultation with LGNSW is currently working to establish a new Internal Audit Panel to support all NSW councils with the pending Internal Audit obligations recently announced by State Government. 

LGP would value your input in regard to the internal audit specifications.  These are being prepared in readiness for panel setup through an open request for tender process. This survey is applicable to council staff who are involved with internal audit, risk management and governance practices within council operations. To access the survey questions, please click here.

Feel free to forward it on to other relevant people.The survey will close on COB Friday 20 October 2017.

If you have any questions in relation to this survey, please feel free to contact Santhosh Dorairajan, Category Manager ITC & Services on 02 8270 8732.

The Sustainable Choice Database makes the search for sustainable products and services easier for councils. The expansive online database lists sustainable products and services, from energy-efficient lighting to recycled furniture and infrastructure products, paper and printing, road base, catering and events supplies. Sustainability indicators have been incorporated into the database to help identify why a product is considered to be more sustainable than another in order for you to choose the most appropriate for your needs and budget. You can access the database at www.sustainablechoice.lgp.org.au.

The database receives between 600-800 hits a month from local councils wanting to purchase more sustainably. For suppliers of sustainable products and services it is a channel for exposure to the local government market.

View newly added suppliers to the Sustainable Choice Database.

Contact us if you want to know more.

Banking Services

Is your council delivering best value for ratepayers regarding the costs for banking services?

Our understanding is that the banking services market pricing has dropped considerably over recent years. A robust procurement process may deliver considerable savings that will identify value for money for your council.

LGP’s consulting team have partnered with an experienced technical adviser with over 26 years in the banking services industry to develop robust procurement documentation, evaluation and probity plans for banking services.

If your council has not tested the market in recent years or have recently merged with another council it may be time to consider engaging LGP’s consulting team to facilitate a procurement process for banking services.

We will work with councils evaluation team to facilitate the tender and evaluation process, ensuring council has a good understanding of the tender responses received. 

As a minimum the tender specifications would cover the following requirements, however these would be customised for individual council requirements:

• Provision of Bank Accounts
• Electronic Banking Services
• Branch Banking
• Payables Solutions
• Innovative new services and value adds
• Overdraft Facilities
• EFTPOS Facilities
• Corporate/Business Credit Cards
• Contingency Planning and Data Security
• Corporate/Business Credit Cards
• Transitional Arrangements

If you are considering your current banking services arrangements and would like to test the market please email  LGP Consulting and we would be happy to provide a quotation to facilitate a procurement process on your behalf.

LGP Consulting Team

LGP extends its expertise and experience to provide councils with an additional service through its Consulting Team.

LGP’s consulting team are well positioned to facilitate end to end tender processes on behalf of individual councils.  Our consulting team comprises highly qualified and experienced professionals who have demonstrated success in facilitating tenders on behalf of councils.

Examples of recent tenders we have conducted on behalf of individual councils are:

• Refurbishment of Library Building
• Legal Services Panel – two individual council tenders
• Internal Audit Services
• Natural Resources Services
• Management and Operation of Swimming Centre
• Security Services - two individual council tenders
• Food and Garden Organic Processing
• Scrap Ferrous Metals, Green Waste Processing, Crushing and Screening of Concrete and Waste Bin Audit (4 separate tenders for a group of councils)
• Remediation of Land works
• Development and Management of Caravan Park (EOI)
• ICT Services Provider
• Vehicle Leaseback
• Cleaning Services
• Trade Services Providers
• Lighting and Sound Technician services
• Dry and Wet Plant and Equipment – two individual council tenders
• Insurance Broker and Insurance Brokerage Services  for ten councils (joint tender process)
• CBD Reconstruction Tender

If you have any requirements for tender facilitation for any product or service please email the LGP Consulting Team or call 02 8270 8747.

LEAP, a low cost ongoing continuous improvement program that uses real data and evidence to improve procurement capability of council, recently launched and continues to gain momentum!

Following on from the successful launch we had three successful LEAP webinars with over 90 attendees in total who showed keen interest in the product and were eager to learn how the program would benefit their council.

If you would like more information about the program, please email us or visit our website.

The LEAP program is delivered to councils by LGP in association with ArcBlue.

LGP Training Update

Block 3 for Certificate-IV in Procurement and Contracting (PSP40616) and Advanced Diploma of Procurement qualifications were completed during September. The participants are now only one block away from completing their qualification in the coming month. The group for Diploma of Procurement and Contracting (PSP50616) completed their Block 2 and will be back to do Blocks 3 and 4 during October and November.

The participants had a good learning experience through the classroom discussions, group activities and delivery by the experienced and knowledgeable Trainer.

On Thursday 7th of September 2017, the Networking in the Bush event for the Southern NSW councils was held at the Chocolate & Licorice Factory in Junee. Apart from a great historical location, we had 34 personnel from 21 councils from various business functions including procurement, contracts, engineering, finance, projects, fleet, governance and administration. It was great to see strong support and presence of senior management from various councils.

Also attending the meeting was Paul Braybrooks (Chair LGP), Luke Kenny (CEO LGP) and James Davis (GM Junee) who addressed the group and opened the event. The key speakers were: Phill Scott (LGP), Rick Jones (Boral), Michael Robinson (ArcBlue), Sara Lindqvist (LGP), Matthew Clyne (VendorPanel), Michael He (LGP), and Monica Kelly (Prevention Partners).

The day covered a list of current and key topics that are relevant to NSW councils. These topics included:

• Recent procurement matters in local government
• An update on electricity and gas for councils
• How  to save time, money and the environment when it comes to road works
• Procurement analysis and improvement model to assist councils achieve procurement excellence
• What does Sustainable Choice mean for councils
• How to use VendorPanel to your best advantage
• What’s new with LGP contracts
• Latest legal issues and what councils need to know

It was a very productive and interactive day. Participants had opportunities to network, hear and learn from subject experts, shared information, collaborated, asked questions and discussed in an open and supportive environment.

LGP would like to thank all those who participated and contributed to this successful event and we look forward to facilitating network events in the future.

The final LGP event for 2017 is the Annual Conference on Thursday 30th November and Friday 1st December 2017. For further information, please click here.

Tender Evaluation Team Members

The evaluation team members for all procurement projects should be made aware of their responsibilities in the evaluation process by the chairperson of the evaluation team. Ideally the evaluation team members should have input to the evaluation criteria and weightings relevant for the procurement process as part of the development of the RFX documentation and the evaluation and probity plan. Relevant training should be provided to the evaluation team on the agreed scoring scales to score the tender responses.

The number of evaluators required for the procurement process will depend on the risks associated and dollar value of the procurement process.  As a general rule, a minimum of three evaluation members should be on the team. The evaluation process should be planned with consideration of governance and probity requirements. The evaluation of any procurement process should ensure transparency and fairness to the public and tenderers.

It is important to include evaluation team members that are key stakeholders and who will be responsible for managing the contract. Evaluation team members should also have technical expertise for the procurement process. An independent evaluation team member may also provide an independent perspective on the evaluation process.

To improve evaluation experience, it is worth considering inviting an additional member of staff to gain experience in the process. The more experience staff can gain in the procurement process including the evaluation of RFX responses, the more efficient and effective procurement can become in the organisation.

For further information contact the LGP Consulting Team click here.

The case of Chaudhary v Chaudhary[1] is an interesting example how a simple event, such as providing your adult children money to purchase a house, can become complicated and difficult to apply legal definition to.

The facts
Adrian and Justine got married and wished to buy a family home. Unfortunately for them Sydney house prices made this dream impossible. Vincent, Adrian’s father, offered to put up $1,200,356.42 (including stamp duty and other costs) towards a property actioned for $1,530,000.

Some years later Adrian and Justine’s marriage failed. The question for the Court was whether the money was a loan or a gift. To reach the answer the Court needed to look at the parties’ intentions.

Importantly, the Court affirmed that when assessing the parties’ intentions this question is answered objectively and held that ‘Vincent’s undisclosed subjective intention is not in any way determinative of the question of whether or not the advance constituted a gift or a loan’.[2] Instead, the Court will consider the parties’ intentions from the reasonably informed onlooker.

Message to take away

• As in all contractual questions, the courts will examine documents, the words used, and the parties’ intentions to decide what type of agreement the parties have entered into.
• Before entering into any contractual relationship, including loans or gifts, please decide what you want from such a relationship and how to achieve that aim.

Monica Kelly from Prevention Partners explains more here.

Contact Prevention Partners NSW on 0438 280 621 or email to assist.

If there is any topic you would like covered next month, please feel free to contact Prevention Partners NSW to make suggestions.

Industrial, Construction, Electrical and General Hardware & Materials (NPN1.16)

Application: Altrex MiTower supplied & serviced by Waterproofing Direct Pty Ltd
Client: St Lukes Grammar School – Dee Why

The MiTower was developed by Altrex of Holland as a concept and to specifications requested by one of their clients who required fast, simple and low cost height access. All components and fittings had to be captive on system members.  An advantage is the elimination of cross bracing and the Altrex designed Double Guard Rail system replaces normally awkward cross bracing. All framing members have full welded joints, electronically welded by robot.

The result was the MiTower (1 man) and its sister the MiTower Plus (2 man). The essential difference between them is the platform size and range of heights.

Accessories allow erection on stairs and there is a bridging system suitable for joining two towers together forming a work bridge.

Both MiTowers’ are assembled by one man and pack down to form a trolley which can be rolled through a door or into a lift offering ease of transport and movement and storage.  The MiTower has approval for access to platforms without internal ladder systems reducing the complication of handling and storage of the system.

These advantages have enabled St. Lukes Grammar School - Dee Why to effectively cover 90% of their maintenance access needs. Because of its light weight and adaptable structure it is used on the auditorium stage (picture) for altering lighting and drops. There is no need to remove band equipment.

St. Lukes groundsman Gareth says “Setting up and pulling down is fast and only requires one man. A plus is that no ticket is required to erect it & no internal ladders (for working height 6m).  Capital expense was easy to justify. We return capital cost in less than 12 months. I used to hire sissor lifts but I could not put these on the stage and I had to be there as use required a ticket. It is also about availability, our MiTower is available at a moments notice and quick to use.”

The manufacturer says erection to a working height of 6m takes only 10 minutes for the MiTower. We have proven that without much practice this is the case. Mobile scaffold towers, for platform heights under 4m required no ticket.

Demonstrations and or trial use arrangements are available.

Testimonial

For more information please call 1300 557 973 or email.