Beca fully supports the intentions behind the Rules update to streamline, simplify, and continue to leverage public sector spend to achieve economic benefits and positive impact for New Zealand.
We see further opportunity to:
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Provide further targeted resources and support to procurers to ensure the planning, sourcing and contract managing of small, medium and complex infrastructure projects are of the right scale and scope to achieve intended outcomes.
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Enhance the skills and application of whole-of-life cost assessments and value-for-money assessments, with a focus on infrastructure projects.
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Right size investment and use procurement systems like a contract management system to ensure suppliers, especially smaller local NZ business, can participate effectively in them and not add additional barriers to working with government.
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Assess and enhance the ecosystem of procurement rules and practice by exploring an amalgamation or consolidation of various documents (NZTA Procurement Manual, The Principles, the Charter) where duplication is present.
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Ensure the pursuit of economic outcomes is considered by procurers in its ecosystem of broader environmental, cultural and social outcomes, and that the Rules enables productive action on this with local New Zealand businesses, for the benefit of local communities in New Zealand.
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Retain elements of the previous Rules, such as Green Star certification, where the framework itself is best practice and successful, but the pursuit and application needs to be better developed and understood by all parties be cost-effective.
Beca is deeply invested in seeing the procurement lever be used to drive the economic, environmental, cultural and social markers of our communities move in a positive direction. Our own procurement activities are evolving to also achieve this, and will continue to champion the power of procurement to do so as a NZ founded and majority owned business.
As a long-term partner of government, we would welcome any opportunity to be of further support in this work, and of wider government initiatives such as social investment. We have both local and global expertise we can draw on, alongside many examples and case studies that can be provided that could help achieve the intended outcomes.