SAIPP Agency Information

The Industry Advocate has responsibility under the Industry Advocate Act 2017 (the Act) to take action to promote and ensure compliance with the South Australian Industry Participation Policy (SAIPP). Agencies and private parties contracting to the Government of South Australia are required to comply with the SAIPP and the supporting procedural and reporting guidelines.

New changes have been made to the SAIPP Procedural Guidelines and it's important for Public Authorities to be aware of these changes and their potential impacts. A presentation has been developed by the Office of the Industry Advocate to outline these changes and impacts.

View presentation

The Procurement Process

1. Project Inception

Agencies/Authorities are to ensure the procurement is registered on the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF) Procurement Activity Reporting System (PARS).

For registration and assistance with PARS please email support@procurement.sa.gov.au

Agencies/Authorities are to assess if the project is within (or close to) the scope and monetary thresholds of the State’s Industry Participation Policy (SAIPP Procedural Guidelines) and if so, forward a draft acquisition plan to the Office of the Industry Advocate (OIA) for review. This can be done through PARS.

Consideration should be given to increasing the South Australian Industry Participation Policy weighting to expand the economic benefit to the State.

If a Cabinet Submission is required the OIA must be consulted.

2. Tender Preparation

Agencies/Authorities must ensure wording in the tender documentation correctly refers to the Industry Participation Policy and the relevant sections of the SAIPP Procedural Guidelines.

A determination should be made to whether the SAIPP Design and Specification requirements should be incorporated into the tender documentation.

Wording in the tender documentation should allow proponents to estimate a total bid price.

It’s important to include the Industry Participation Policy weighting in the tender evaluation plan.

The Agency/Authority must update PARS with the tender open and close dates plus the likely tender assessment time-frames when possible.

3. Tender Release

If it is a Panel contract, a Tailored process starting with a Statement of Intent must be used unless otherwise agreed by the Industry Advocate. For all other contracts, ensure the appropriate Industry Participation Plan has been incorporated into the tender documentation.

If a Tailored Industry Participation Plan is to be used, the plan must be signed by the Industry Advocate prior to the release of the tender documentation to ensure its validity. Where IPP is applicable a tender is invalid without the Industry Advocates signature.

Agencies/Authorities are to encourage tenderers to contact the OIA for assistance to identify capable local suppliers and for assistance with Industry Participation Plan preparation.

A minimum of one local business must be invited to tender or quote.

4. Tender Assessment

Agencies/Authorities are to verify Standard Industry Participation scores within PARS.

For Tailored Industry Participation Plans (TIPP’s) the scoring will be conducted by the Agency.

For further information on how to conduct the above, contact the Head of Procurement within the Agency/Authority.

Agencies should send through their IPP support requests to support@procurement.sa.gov.au

For further information on tender evaluation and assessment go to: https://www.procurement.sa.gov.au/

The Agency is required to provide an authorised copy of Industry Participation Plan(s) to OIA for final negotiation as per Industry Advocate Act 2017 s6 (e) for assessment. Agencies must preclude tenders that have not submitted Industry Participation Plans from contract award (on advice from OIA).

5. Contract Award

The Industry Advocate must be notified of the purchase recommendation before contract execution for both Standard Industry Participation Plans and Tailored Industry Participation Plans. This can be also done through PARS.

Agencies/Authorities must inform OIA of the successful tenderer, contract start date and contract term.

Agencies/Authorities are required to use the relevant contract condition/clauses from the approved SA Industry Participation Policy clause bank found on the Procurement Services SA website under templates within the Policies and Guidelines section.

Contact the OIA

6. Ongoing Contract Management

The Supplier must provide an Industry Participation Report in respect to each Industry Participation Reporting Period within the contract to OIA ONLY (to maintain Freedom of Information Exemption under the Act).

As per the SAIPP Procedural Guidelines (Table 2), the Agency is to request IPP Plan reports from contractors in line with contract conditions and ensure the OIA is directly provided with it.

The Industry Advocate may, by written notice, require the Supplier to provide information or documents to enable the Industry Advocate to assess the Supplier’s compliance with the Industry Participation Plan submitted.

Please contact the OIA for a copy of the reporting template.

Contact the OIA