Insights from DFAT's new subcontractor portal

CANBERRA — What are the business opportunities available with the Australian aid program? A new resource released this week by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is making that question easier to answer. AusConnect provides suppliers with a single point to locate subcontracting opportunities from major aid suppliers. It aims to change the game on Australian aid transparency, according to the Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific Anne Ruston. The portal gives insight into how aid dollars flow into businesses, both in Australia and internationally, as DFAT moves more to managing a smaller number of larger valued contracts, including facilities. AusConnect was set in motion with an announcement at the 2018 Aid Supplier Conference in February. The initial release is limited in analytics capability for employing and subcontracting opportunities, replicating advertisements on the jobs and procurement networks of DFAT’s main private sector aid partners — Cardno, Palladium, Coffey, Abt Associates, and Scope Global. But the foundations are there, with the option to search for opportunities by region, sector, subcontractor skillset, contract duration, work type, and value. Insights from the initial release The release in December, during the slow work period, means that the insights from the initial release of data are limited. But the information available can help in planning and preparing for Australian aid opportunities A total of 44 opportunities were available as of Dec. 13 with Cardno providing the largest number of opportunities: 27 in total. Of these, more than half are based in Southeast and East Asia and only two are subcontracting opportunities. The Cambodian Agricultural Value Chain program, the Fiji Women’s Fund, Indonesia Australia Infrastructure Partnership, and MAHKOTA are among the Australian aid projects Cardno is supporting that currently require additional support in staff and subcontractors. Coffey has the second largest number of opportunities with a total of eight. Half of those support its delivery of the Australia Awards program — including two subcontracting opportunities. Abt Associates, the only supplier to list the value of opportunities, has three career opportunities supporting Australian aid programs in the Pacific and Southeast and East Asia. In total, they combine to be worth 550,000 Australian dollars ($394,737) with the opportunities closing for responses in December and January. For Palladium, the main opportunities are through the Market Development Facility. But it is expected to list more opportunities to support awareness of its role in creating opportunities with the Australian aid program as business ramps up again in 2019. For potential aid suppliers and partners, the opportunities are diverse — from program managers, gender specialists, health specialists to grant experts, interior designers and transporting contracts. And opportunities can be short stints to longer term, employing and subcontracting opportunities varying from three months to two-and-a-half years. Why it’s a ‘game changer’ In launching the new portal, Ruston called AusConnect a “one-stop-shop for the Australian aid program” to connect people and suppliers across Australian aid contracts in the Australian aid program. "Contractors will advertise their procurements through AusConnect so that searchers only need to go to one place to look for opportunities," she said. "It will reduce the costs of advertising and searching, with savings flowing on to the beneficiaries of Australian aid. This will also benefit small business, NGOs, and individual experts that face relatively large business development expenses.” The need for the portal was in response to feedback that searching across multiple websites and information sources for opportunities was complex and confusing — and could miss important opportunities. But if done right, DFAT will be able to better report on how Australian aid provides economic opportunities back to Australian businesses as well as business partners within program countries — including to Indigenous businesses. And this will help improve transparency including more accurate reporting on how aid dollars are spent — an improvement aid partners have been calling for since AusAid was merged into DFAT. Highlighting the value In February, the 2019 Aid Supplier Conference will again take place in Canberra with the new portal expected to be an important fixture in DFAT’s engagement with aid suppliers. There will be a need to encourage the major contractors to provide data that will be useful for analytics. And there will also be a need to highlight to smaller aid partners how the portal can support their ability to look for opportunities, including planning and preparing for their own subcontractor opportunities. The conference will prove an opportunity to better understand DFAT’s plans for the portal moving forward — including if the outcomes of opportunities will be reported back for suppliers to better understand who are leading subcontractors as well as what the major aid suppliers are looking for in their business partners.