Participants at the 2020 Aboriginal Expo
The Aboriginal Procurement Policy continues to outperform expectations, exceeding targets by 250 per cent.
Aboriginal businesses were awarded more than 5 per cent of all Government contracts from July to December 2019. In this period, 90 contracts worth more than $83 million were awarded to 51 registered Aboriginal businesses. All but one of those businesses were West Australian.
This is well above the target of 2 per cent target, which was met by 18 government agencies -- and four of those agencies awarded more than 10 per cent of their contracts to Aboriginal businesses.
"The Government is pleased to see continued growth in the Aboriginal business sector, following on from the solid results from year one of the policy”, Minister for Finance Ben Wyatt said.
"The results also highlight the impressive range, ability and capacity of Aboriginal business servicing the community in Western Australia.”
From 1 July 2018, the policy required agencies to award one percent of contracts to Aboriginal businesses, rising to three percent by 2021. It achieved strong results in its first year, with 4.77 per cent of contracts awarded to registered Aboriginal businesses. In 2018-19, a total contract value in excess of $167 million was awarded to 92 different Aboriginal-owned businesses throughout the State and across a variety of industries.
The policy aims to successfully deliver government contracts while improving the economic prosperity of Aboriginal people in businesses, their suppliers, sub-contractors and the broader Aboriginal community.
The Department of Finance has hosted two Aboriginal Business Expos since the implementation of the policy to promote businesses and services available to Government agencies.
The Department of Finance administers the Policy. It is advising agencies on meeting targets and Aboriginal businesses on working with government. The Department will continue to monitor progress and report on the outcomes.
