The Commonwealth Procurement Awards (the Awards) celebrate positive procurement achievements of entities and showcase better practice, innovation and excellence in procurement. The Awards aim to foster a collaborative community of engaged procurement professionals who freely impart their knowledge across the Commonwealth.
The 2022 Awards ceremony was held on Monday 31 October at the National Gallery of Australia and was attended by Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, Minister for Finance, Minister for Women, and Minister for the Public Service. The event was hosted by Finance Secretary Jenny Wilkinson PSM who announced the Gold award winners and presented Honourable Mention awards in each category.
Photograph of the 2022 Commonwealth Procurement Awards for Excellence award recipients with the Finance Secretary.
This year, a record number of nominations were received with awards presented in the following categories:
Building Entity Capability
The award recipients in this category addressed how their efforts have yielded positive results in lifting procurement capability; how they achieved effective outcomes; and, how they contributed to developing professionalised procurement officials in the Commonwealth.
Gold award – Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry demonstrated an impressive training regime to develop a culture for learning following Machinery of Government changes in 2020. Their strong procurement and contract management capability was shown by their high training engagement rates.
Photograph of Building Entity Capability Gold award recipients - Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry with the Minister for Finance and the Finance Secretary.
Gold award – Department of Home Affairs
The Department of Home Affairs presented a comprehensive traditional procurement and contract management model within a large portfolio that will provide the department with greater transparency, accountability and ongoing benefits.
Photograph of Building Entity Capability Gold award recipients - Department of Home Affairs with the Minister for Finance and the Finance Secretary.
Honourable Mention award – Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water demonstrated a clear journey of design and the delivery of sustainable procurement education and advocacy initiatives to gradually change the cultural mindset of sustainability across Government procurement.
Photograph of Building Entity Capability Honourable Mention award recipients – Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water with the Finance Secretary.
Honourable Mention award – Department of Defence
The Department of Defence accomplished a complex and technical project of reviewing and updating the Defence Suite of Facilities Contracts to be used by the department and other Commonwealth entities which involved a robust consultation process with a wide range of stakeholders.
Photograph of Building Entity Capability Honourable Mention award recipient – Department of Defence with the Finance Secretary.
Delivering Innovation through Procurement
The award recipients in this category demonstrated how innovative solutions to procurement can overcome challenges and achieve great outcomes for both the Commonwealth and the broader Australian community.
Gold award – Australian Taxation Office
The Australian Taxation Office demonstrated an outstanding journey where they successfully designed, developed and established a complex panel arrangement for occupational rehabilitation and associated medical services. The panel arrangement benefitted the whole of Government, improving value for money and the health outcomes of APS employees returning to the workplace.
Photograph of Delivering Innovation through Procurement Gold award recipients – Australian Taxation Office with the Minister for Finance and the Finance Secretary.
Honourable Mention award – Department of Finance
The Department of Finance delivered an outstanding outcome to the Commonwealth constructing the Centre for National Resilience over a compressed timeframe of six months. The taskforce demonstrated an innovative and adaptive procurement approach to construction, including educating and partnering with key suppliers to achieve a fit for purpose outcome.
Photograph of Delivering Innovation through Procurement Honourable Mention award recipients – Department of Finance with the Finance Secretary.
Honourable Mention award – Department of Health and Aged Care
The Department of Health and Aged Care used an innovative stakeholder engagement approach in procuring personal protective equipment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team had engaged with risk effectively and positively to deliver outcomes for the Commonwealth. The team also demonstrated important lessons, including the importance of reconnecting with industry and comprehensive environmental scans.
Photograph of Delivering Innovation through Procurement Honourable Mention award recipients – Department of Health and Aged Care with the Finance Secretary.
Engaging with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
The award recipients in this category demonstrated their achievement to maximise the potential for SMEs to engage and participate in Commonwealth procurements.
Gold award – Department of Defence
The Department of Defence demonstrated a proactive, market-responsive, and pragmatic approach to expand SME participation in Commonwealth procurement through industry collaboration and uplifting SMEs’ capabilities. The approach removed impediments for SMEs leading to an increase in competence and confidence of engaged SMEs.
Photograph of the Engaging with SMEs Gold award recipients – Department of Defence with the Minister for Finance and the Finance Secretary.
Honourable Mention award – Tourism Australia
Tourism Australia’s National Experience Content Initiative provided local micro businesses with an opportunity to not only participate in Commonwealth procurement, but to help Australia’s tourism industry recover during the pandemic. Utilising an innovative approach to maximise SME participation, Tourism Australia provided SMEs with sizable yet manageable contracts and deferred to their local area knowledge to maximise the quality of the image assets created for the initiative.
Photograph of the Engaging with SMEs Honourable Mention award recipients – Tourism Australia with the Finance Secretary.
Honourable Mention award – IP Australia
IP Australia demonstrated a journey of increasing engagement with First Nations SMEs. They demonstrated clear leadership through partnerships with other agencies to raise awareness and support for positive perception changes toward First Nations businesses. The passion from the team in building meaningful relationships with stakeholders and embedding changes were demonstrated in their initiative.
Photograph of Engaging with SMEs Honourable Mention award recipients – IP Australia with the Finance Secretary.
Procuring for Digital Services
The award recipient in this category demonstrated how Commonwealth procurement outcomes were achieved through innovative digital enabled market approaches and solutions to deliver results fit for the digital age.
Gold award – Australian Taxation Office
The Australian Taxation Office adopted an innovative best practice approach to run a proof of concept process in a digital procurement. The Proof of Concept Guidelines developed from this process are a tangible and valuable artefact for the Commonwealth, demonstrating they are a leader in Government digital procurement.
Photograph of the Procuring for Digital Services Gold award recipients – Australian Taxation Office with the Minister for Finance and the Finance Secretary.
Congratulations to all the Awards recipients on their achievements and a sincere thank you to all nominating entities for their contribution towards procurement capability uplift, effective engagement with the business community and a commitment to excellence in Commonwealth procurement. We commend you for your efforts and look forward to seeing future innovations and successes at the next Awards.
