Procurement with Aboriginal businesses by the New South Wales (NSW) Government has risen by 420% in two years.
Spending with Aboriginal businesses soared from $92 million in 2019-20 to nearly $480 million in 2021-22, NSW Government revealed.
Now the Government aims to further and has opened up an engagement process to enhance its Aboriginal Procurement Policy.
The $480 million spend trumped the benchmark of $136.7 million for 21-22 set by the NSW Aboriginal Procurement Policy.
“The Aboriginal Procurement Policy had a target of 200 contracts worth a total of $136.7 million for the 2021-22 financial year. We can report there have been 694 contracts worth $479.6 million,” Minister for Finance Damien Tudehope said.
“This shows that a wide-range of government agencies are actively looking for opportunities to source goods and services from Aboriginal businesses across the
state with more than 40% of this spend occurring in regional New South Wales.”
Last year, the government hosted business speed dating events called, ‘Meet the Buyer’ to connect public and private procurement professionals with Aboriginal businesses.
These attracted more than 400 people at Nowra, Newcastle, Tamworth, Dubbo, and Wagga Wagga.
Have your say on the procurement policy
NSW Government has invited feedback on the Aboriginal Procurement Policy by 28 February 2022.
The policy, founded in 2021, aimed for 3% of all domestic contracts for goods and services to go to Aboriginal-owned businesses.
It requires agencies to include minimum requirements for 1.5% Aboriginal participation in all contracts valued at $7.5 million
Feedback is encouraged on how effective the Aboriginal Procurement Policy has been and what improvements it needs.
