News Release
Martin Hamilton-Smith
Minister for Small Business
Tuesday, 1 March, 2016
Industry Participation Advocate grows South Australian procurement
According to a recent State Procurement Board report 90.2 per cent of the value of goods and
services contracts, were let with South Australia suppliers in 2014-15.
Minister for Small Business Martin Hamilton-Smith said this was an outstanding result
considering the Industry Participation Advocate was created by the State Government in 2013.
“The latest figures compare with just 51 per cent in 2012-13 prior to the role being
established,” Mr Hamilton-Smith said.
“Major projects awarded under the revised Industry Participation Policy have also shown
extremely strong results, with more than 90 per cent of the sub-contracts awarded to
contractors where the majority of the dollar spend is in the State.
“The focus of the Industry Participation Policy is on procuring from locally based suppliers who
source locally as it maximizes the amount of local labour and capital used; and the amount of
economic contribution being retained in the State.
“These figures are a clear indication the State Government’s Industry Participation Policy has
been successful in creating opportunities for small businesses and this will be supported by
further reforms to be put in place by the Office of the Industry Advocate.
The State Government was encouraged to hear of a successful Commercial Acumen Training
Workshop trial for State Government Executives and Senior Managers.
“I will be asking all agency chief executives to consider adopting this training as it will give their
key staff a better understanding of the impact their decisions have on small business.”
The Industry Participation Advocate will investigate what improvements can be made to
agency’s procurement practices to reduce the cost to business when tendering for
Government work.
This will include considering the time between when a tender is released to the market and
when it is evaluated and then awarded. If there are unnecessary delays between each step it
can have a significant cost impact on business.
Following recent recommendations by the Industry Participation Advocate the State
Procurement Board will now require all agencies to report on the levels of local labour
associated with all contracts from $22,000 and above.
The Industry Participation Advocate will also provide recommendations of how local
businesses with a high level of local labour can be identified, prior to an invitation to tender.
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