Sustainable procurement

 

Sustainable procurement

Supply Nation MemberTAFE NSW has a commitment to ensuring sustainability and social objectives are supported through our Procurement. To this end we have developed our Procurement Policy and practices to support small and medium sized businesses, Aboriginal-owned businesses, Local and Regional businesses, and Australian Disability Enterprises.

Definitions

Aboriginal Business

An Aboriginal owned business refers to any business that is recognised by an appropriate organisation, such as: NSW Indigenous Chamber of Commerce; an organisation representing Aboriginal owned businesses in another state or territory that is a member of the First Australians Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Supply Nation.

Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs)

Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs) are commercial businesses that provide employment for people with a disability (refer buy.nsw).

Local and Regional businesses

Regional NSW includes all areas within NSW outside the Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong metropolitan areas. A list of regional Local Government Areas is available on ProcurePoint and provided in the Buyers and Suppliers Guides.

Small and medium business (SME)

A Small Business is a business with 1-19 FTEs including sole traders and start- ups, and a Medium Business is a business with 20-199 FTEs.

The Government is undertaking a range of initiatives to make it easier to transact with the above businesses. These include:

NSW Government initiatives

  • Implementing supporting Government policy including exception provisions
  • Reducing barriers to entry
  • Standardising contracts
  • Assessing insurance requirements on a case by case basis to ensure SMEs are not disadvantaged
  • Encouraging expedient payment of invoices such as using Purchasing Cards (Pcards)
  • Building a suite of simple online resources to assist SMEs to bid for contracts
  • Implemented a policy to support faster payment times

TAFE NSW initiatives

  • Maintaining 5 day payment terms with registered small businesses, in alignment with the Faster Payment Terms Policy
  • When using prequalification schemes, reasonable efforts will be made to obtain at least one written quotation from an eligible SME when multiple quotations are sought.
  • Procurement over $3 million must include a minimum 15 per cent of the non-price evaluation criteria attributed to how Government economic, ethical, environmental and social priorities will be supported.
  • TAFE NSW is a proud member of Supply Nation and is working towards increasing its spend with Aboriginal Businesses.
  • Publishing the TAFE NSW Aboriginal Participation Strategy 2020 'Building Strong Partnerships'
  • Where appropriate, including relevant evaluation criteria to support SMEs, Aboriginal Business and ADEs in the tendering process
  • Offering training and educating its internal clients about ways to support SMEs through procurement processes
  • Utilising Pcards to pay for low risk purchases less than $10,000
  • Implementing SAP Ariba Network to make it easier and faster to transact with us

Want more information?

Suppliers are encouraged to visit the NSW Government buy.nsw - ' Before You Buy' which has useful information including relevant policy and objectives for Supplier Diversity and Supporting SME Participation.

TAFE NSW Procurement Enquiries and Feedback

TAFE NSW Procurement

NSW Procurement Service Centre

Supplier resources