James Dean, Construction Manager of Plan Group has provided this story relating to Spend Local.
Please provide a brief background and some context.
Plan Group has committed to a strategic action plan with GROW to ensure we are able to maintain and integrate the GROW philosophy, that a prosperous community cares for the well-being of all its members. Plan Group are committed to providing beneficial economic and social returns to the G21 community through building positive relationships with local subcontractors and suppliers to undertake works on our projects. In summary, ensuring Plan Group provides local opportunities to local businesses wherever possible.
What steps did you take to make a change?
We have engaged with 10 GROW signatories in 2020 and are actively pursuing relationships with several others. We carefully considered what clauses to include within our documentation to begin sub-contractors’ awareness of Spend Local and Social. We also considered strategies to include our formal commitment to GROW within our tender assessment phase of a project.
What was different after the change?
Within all tender assessments we have now included the following wording ”The contractor acknowledges that Plan Group Geelong are a compact signatory for Grow G21 Region and has committed to a formal action plan. Should the opportunity arise, Plan Group would like the contractor’s assistance in achieving items within our action plan. Some examples may include assistance for new job seekers, work experience, site tours or discussions about your of scope of works, social procurement or promotion of the GROW initiative. More information will be provided to the successful contractor upon contract award.” This information also forms part of our contractual agreement with the sub-contractors that work on our projects.
What was the outcome?
We have significant data now to offer GROW’s portal to support this initiative. A quick example is our local West Oval Redevelopment project, which has a local content expenditure of 89% of the overall contract sum. We now also have historical data demonstrating the Plan Group Geelong’s past procurement expenditure for each trade discipline which further demonstrates our commitment to the GROW philosophy.
