Hundreds of Indigenous businesses won their first contract with Federal Government Agencies in the 2020–21 financial year under the National Indigenous Australian Agency’s (NIAA) Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP).
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt said the NIAA’s IPP was driving more of the Commonwealth’s annual spend into Indigenous businesses.
“The Australian Government is one of the biggest purchasers in the country and the IPP has helped make sure that Indigenous businesses are getting their fair share of that spend,” Mr Wyatt said.
“By actively increasing the number and value of contracts going to Indigenous business, IPP has seen more than $4.2 billion awarded since 2015,” he said.
“And because Indigenous businesses are also more likely to employ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, this has significant flow-on effects to families and communities across Australia.”
Mr Wyatt said that despite COVID-19 challenging most sectors, many Indigenous businesses had successfully adapted and proven that “when given a chance, they are just as capable at presenting value for money and delivering goods and services that are fit for purpose”.
He said with the assistance of the IPP, Indigenous businesses could expand into sectors in which they had previously been under-represented.
The Minister said that in 2015, the Australian Government only had 19 contracts with Indigenous businesses in the IT sector, worth $4.2 million, but by 2019–20, this had grown to 178 contracts worth $34 million.
“All Commonwealth portfolios have really taken the IPP forward to the point where we have been able to introduce value targets on top of the number of contracts targets that we started with,” he said.
“While the full data on outcomes under the IPP for the 2020–21 financial year is still being compiled, we do know that it will be another strong result Indigenous businesses,” Mr Wyatt said.
The NIAA’s 37-page IPP can be accessed at this PS News link.
