Omesh Jethwani, Government Projects & Programs Manager in conversation with Charleene Mundine, Founder, Owner and Director — DLCM; Owner — Gali Solutions and Founder of the Black Women of Western Sydney (BWOWS) Network, on Aboriginal and Social Procurement Policies. Charleene is a traditional owner from Bundjalung, Yuin, Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) and Anaiwan nations with family connections to the Gumbaynggirr and Eora nations.

1. ABORIGINAL
1. What were the influential factors
that gave birth to the inception of
DLCM?
I worked at JLL on the Defence Estate Program
and struggled to identify Aboriginal construction
companies to deliver our projects. The two
main issues I kept facing were identifying and
on-boarding suppliers. The existing public lists
did not provide the information I required to
make an informed choice of which suppliers to
approach.
When I did approach Aboriginal suppliers for
a quote or to respond to an RFT, they often
struggled to demonstrate their capabilities
within their submissions.
So I left and created a database of prequalified
suppliers. Our database aims to provide the
industry with easy access to suppliers. Clients
provide us with a list of requirements, and we
identify who can deliver based on the outcome
of their evaluation.
We achieve this by running the Aboriginal
suppliers through a tender evaluation of a
previous submission. This work has led to us
developing ongoing business development
support for Aboriginal suppliers. Once we know
their strengths and weaknesses, we provide
target mentoring, coaching, and upskilling to
move their business forward. For example,
we help them develop and implement Health,
Safety, Environmental and Quality Management
Systems, ensure they have the proper licences
and insurance level and co-create their suite of
bid submission documentation.
Our database saves our client’s time and money
because we have done the hard work in the
first instance to understand the supplier’s ability.
Where there is a limited capability within the
organisation, we work one-on-one with them to
respond to an ATM and commence work on a
project.
2. IS DLCM registered with Supply
Nation, and is DLCM a 100%
Aboriginal owned company?
Yes, I am proud that DLCM is a 100%
Aboriginal owned, Supply Nation Certified
business and that our workforce is
predominantly female, all of whom identify as
Aboriginal.
3. What services does DLCM provide,
and which industries does DLCM
generally target its services?
We commenced providing end-to-end
procurement services, including bid submission
development, for Tier one and two construction
companies. We also provided business
development support for Aboriginal enterprises,
upskilling them in the art of bid submission.
Due to our expansion into providing broader
ESG services, our consultancy arm now
works across several sectors. Our services
have expanded to include HR functions,
Environmental and Sustainability, and
Community and Stakeholder Engagement.
As a result, the business has several services.
• Social performance management — utilising
our new Social Performance Integrated
Management System.
• Bid submission management — managing
and writing the Aboriginal (Indigenous)
Participation Plans, Social Procurement
Framework, Local Industry Development
Plan (LIDP), Major Project Skills Guarantee
(MPSG): Local Jobs First responses.
• Business development for Aboriginal
businesses and Social Enterprises.
4. DLCM has recently developed a
new sustainability management
system. The specific focus is
across social performance and
compliance — aligning with First
Nation and Social Procurement
policies. Tell our readers more
about it.
For years the construction industry has
struggled to consistently capture accurate
data across ESG. Part of the problem has
been the silos that exist across business
functions and projects. For example, the
procurement manager may not have oversight
of the Aboriginal spending undertaken by the
community and stakeholder team. This can lead
to Aboriginal spending being left unaccounted
for within project reporting.
Secondly, we recognised the inconsistent ESG
language and contractual obligations across
Federal, State and Local governments and
business sectors. DLCM has standardised the
raw qualitative and quantitative data capture
across procurement, HR, community and
stakeholder engagement, and environmental
and sustainability functions to address this.
The raw data is processed, cleansed, analysed,
and finally allocated to their reporting line, such
as Aboriginal spend, regional participation, and
increasing opportunities for women in non-
traditional roles. The data gets aggregated back
into their business functions, so each project
can also report against internal policies such
as a corporate social responsibility strategy or
Reconciliation Action Plan.
Finally, we have developed unique second
party social compliance, and third-party social
performance audits as part of our system.
DLCM’s Social Compliance Audit is an
inspection of your external suppliers to verify
whether your supplier’s operations comply with
social and ethical responsibilities measured
against your internal policies and Government
policies and laws.
Our third-party Social Performance Audit
evaluates, measures, and reports projects and
an organisation’s cultural, social, and ethical
performance. Businesses can use the results
of a project’s audit to demonstrate compliance
against a contract. While an organisational
audit demonstrates to internal and external
stakeholders your commitment to ESG.
Noting the NSW State Government has
committed to audit 5% of APPs, our Integrated
Management System supports businesses to
ensure compliance. Our holistic data capture
Aboriginal and Social
Procurement policies
Omesh Jethwani, Government Projects & Programs Manager in-conversation with Charleene
Mundine, Founder, Owner and Director — DLCM; Owner — Gali Solutions and Founder of the
Black Women of Western Sydney (BWOWS) Network, on Aboriginal and Social Procurement
Policies. Charleene is a traditional owner from Bundjalung,Yuin, Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) and
Anaiwan nations with family connections to the Gumbaynggirr and Eora nations.
22 MBA NSW | Issue One | January-March 2022

2. ABORIGINAL
provides you with complete evidence of
your work. In addition, DLCM’s independent
second and third-party audits ensure you are
meeting internal and external commitments.
5. In your opinion, why do you think
construction companies seem to
struggle to meet the Aboriginal
Procurement Policy guidelines?
My personal challenges over the years have
been
1. Struggling to identify and retain suitable
Aboriginal construction companies and
Aboriginal employees.
2. Buyers not knowing where to start.
Entrepreneurship within the mainstream
is relatively new for Aboriginal people.
Historically we created businesses and co-
operatives that addressed the needs of our
community. For example, we established
Aboriginal medical, housing, childcare and
media services. In recent years there has
been an influx of Aboriginal businesses
to meet Government policies. However,
many are professional service and project
management companies. So while there have
always been Aboriginal-owned businesses,
generally, they are small businesses with
limited capacity, and their clientele isn’t
the construction industry. This has left us
lacking trade services within the Aboriginal
construction supply chain. Further, as each
level of Government released an Aboriginal
policy to increase Aboriginal economic
inclusion, we saw an increase in demand for
Aboriginal suppliers. This only exacerbated an
existing problem around supply and demand,
noting the existing gaps with the supply chain.
Like all cultural groups, Aboriginal people tend
to stick together when it comes to employment.
So you often find Aboriginal people working for
local Aboriginal community-based organisations
or non-Indigenous organisations focusing
on providing services for Aboriginal people.
Generally speaking, Aboriginal people see these
jobs as an opportunity to stay connected and
work to support their community.
Also, many Aboriginal people work for the
Federal and State Governments. Why?
Because they established employment
initiatives and targets back in the 1970s and
80s. They created cadetships and identified
roles to ensure they would meet their targets.
So now we often see three generations from
one family working within the public sector
as children and grandchildren have followed
in their grandparent’s footsteps. So, many
educated and skilled Aboriginal people tend to
drift towards one of these employment options.
However, it is also worth noting that the
increasing Government employment targets
(internal and external) have left all industries with
gaps within their workforce. In November 2021,
even the Federal Government revealed that
fewer than a quarter of public service agencies
had achieved their Aboriginal employment rates.
Secondly, you may find several people reading
this article will not know how or where to find
an Aboriginal supplier. They may also not know
how to find an Aboriginal employee or identify
local Aboriginal community stakeholders. This
is generally because the person responsible
for delivering the APP is not Aboriginal or
an Aboriginal person who has only recently
connected with their Aboriginal heritage and
therefore does not know the local Aboriginal
communities. A further problem the industry
faces is that, generally, SMEs are responsible
for delivering a project’s APP. Due to their
size and turnover, they often don’t have the
resourcing or the finances to create solutions.
When we consider that something becomes
too hard or financially draining, it usually does
not get resolved. So for years, non-Indigenous
people have seen Aboriginal inclusion as
hard, and as there were no penalties for non-
compliance, Aboriginal Procurement was often
ignored.
To resolve this, we need to collaborate and
work in partnership with each other and the
Aboriginal community as an industry.
6. What common mistakes made in
tender submissions in meeting
the Aboriginal Procurement Plan
guidelines can be easily avoided?
The most common mistake is not engaging
an Aboriginal person from the construction
industry to work with you to develop your APP.
A submission team need an individual who
understands the industry, the constraints and
risks when delivering a project and speaks
our language. Secondly, the team needs
someone who knows how to successfully
identify, engage, and work with Aboriginal
businesses, employees, and local community
stakeholders. Only an Aboriginal person with
industry experience can successfully navigate
both spaces and create a realistic, sustainable
Aboriginal Participation Plan.
7. Can you elaborate on Why is this
important?
A person from construction understands where
silos exist on projects and across business
functions. So they are best placed to work with
teams to break down barriers and create a well-
rounded APP. For example, submission teams
need someone who can work with business
function managers and the local Aboriginal
stakeholders to co-design realistic and risk-
averse solutions.
Issue One | January-March 2022 | MBA NSW 23

3. ABORIGINAL
In addition, by collaborating with the entire
submission team and reflecting the APP within
their responses, the APP is no longer a stand-
alone document. Instead, it becomes integrated
across the whole submission, demonstrating
how an APP crosses over into all business
functions. Should you win the work, it also
provides the framework for the project team to
work together to deliver on APP commitments.
Further, to develop a successful APP, you need
to demonstrate how you have and will continue
to work with Aboriginal people. And basically,
Aboriginal people trust our mob more than we
trust non-Indigenous people. So it would help
if you had an Aboriginal writer as internal and
external Aboriginal stakeholders will engage
and work with them more than they ever will
a non-Indigenous person. More so, if you’re
successful in identifying an NSW traditional
owner, the NSW mob will want to work with you
as they will respect your decision not to bring in
an outsider.
Finally, we know that most aspects of all
submissions, such as methodology, the
delivery team and the price, will be similar to
your competitors. The investment of engaging
an Aboriginal writer shows the client your
organisation is genuinely trying to understand
and work with Aboriginal stakeholders. This
demonstration of establishing a respectful and
sustained relationship with Aboriginal people
before the project commencement may win you
the two extra points that win you the contract.
8. What do you think it would take for
construction companies to master
Aboriginal Social Procurement?
My two recommendations are:
1. Separate Aboriginal participation from the
broader social procurement.
2. Don’t have non-Indigenous people manage
Aboriginal procurement and participation.
Due to existing cultural biases, Aboriginal
inclusion and first nation voices often get lost
in the broader conversation around social
inclusion.
Therefore policies need to reflect that Aboriginal
people’s cultural heritage, lived experiences,
and challenges to participate are different
from other minority groups. While there are
commonalities shared across minority groups
when it comes to experiencing racism,
discrimination, and exclusion, Aboriginal
people’s experiences are unique and place-
based.
And as I stated above, Aboriginal inclusion and
participation solutions need to be developed
and implemented by Aboriginal people as we
know who our mob is, where to find them and
how to engage with them successfully.
We also need to stop being reactive. Most
businesses only address the contractual
requirements of the projects they are working
on, and each project operates independently
from other projects and the business’s strategic
direction objectives. Instead, we need to
plan to secure a sustainable supply chain
and workforce. Organisations can achieve
this by looking holistically at their Aboriginal
and social procurement and participation to
identify where existing gaps lie. Then they
can develop sustainable strategies to support
the development of Aboriginal businesses
and social enterprises and the Aboriginal and
broader socially marginalised workforce.
9. What are some of the Aboriginal
Procurement issues and concerns
that may keep you awake at night?
My main issues and concerns with Aboriginal
procurement are:
1. Organisations trusting their Aboriginal
procurement to businesses and people with
no experience in it.
2. Expecting one company or person to
deliver all aspects of an APP.
3. How the industry will meet the NSW
Government’s APP requirements over the
next four years.
There has been an influx of Aboriginal
businesses and people claiming they can
deliver the highly complex and rigorous practice
of Aboriginal procurement. However, not
everyone is qualified or competent.
The industry needs to undertake thorough
due diligence when evaluating a business
or person’s ability. Merely adding the word
“Aboriginal” before “procurement” does
not mean someone can provide end-to-
end procurement and supply chain advice.
Someone who understands a little about
medicine does not make a surgeon either!
Projects need, firstly, competent project
managers with procurement experience and,
secondly, Aboriginal people to deliver on APP
commitments. This is a rare combination.
Also, organisations need to stop expecting
one Aboriginal business or person to deliver all
aspects of an APP. This is an immense amount
of pressure for one business or person and can
lead to the company being stretched financially
and Aboriginal employees being burnt out.
Why is it important to get the right businesses
and employees? Delivering APPs is a very
stressful situation and often has high stakes.
I often get asked to step in on projects
when Aboriginal participation has not gone
according to plan. Teams have usually started
to disengage and lose momentum on delivering
on APP commitments by this stage. So it
becomes challenging to encourage team
members to champion their APPs and deliver
their commitments.
We need to openly discuss the current and
future pressures to deliver APPs, including
the financial pressures on non-Indigenous
businesses. The construction industry will need
to deliver $3.17B of Aboriginal Procurement on
NSW Government projects alone. We already
know there are gaps in the Aboriginal supply
chain and workforce. So, while APPs increases
opportunities for Aboriginal businesses and
employees, they can also put an additional
strain on already stretched and finite resources.
One result I’ve noted is inflated pricing to
engage Aboriginal businesses and employ
Aboriginal people.
Finally, with the NSW Government now
quarantining Aboriginal procurement funds,
non-indigenous SMEs may also experience
increased financial pressure. My main concern
is that when an SME is engaged through
a subcontracting arrangement, additional
reporting requirements may result in payment
delays, placing strain on cash flow. With
the increased costs to engage and employ
Aboriginal businesses and employees coupled
with tight margins and extended payment
terms, I wonder how many SMEs will survive.
10. In your opinion, do you think the
Building & Construction Industry
has become more inclusive
of employment and career
opportunities for Aboriginal
Australians?
Yes. Since the release of the original Aboriginal
Participation in Construction back in 2015, the
industry has made significant strides to increase
Aboriginal employment and procurement
and successfully engage with the Aboriginal
community.
It’s still challenging with some resistance to
engage from both sides. But just as we have
successfully increased the number of women
in the industry and shifted the dial in health
and safety, I have faith that both industry and
the Aboriginal community can move forward
together to create sustainable changes.
11. What is your personal opinion on
the 2021 Aboriginal Participation
guidelines?
The 2015 Aboriginal Participation in
Construction policy was only applied
to construction projects and increased
construction industry employment and
workforce development. As the new policy
expands Aboriginal participation across all
sectors, it opens up opportunities for Aboriginal
people to participate outside the construction
industry. This is a win for my community as
it provides avenues for entrepreneurship and
sustainable career pathways in other sectors
because not everyone wants a business or
career in construction.
Issue One | January-March 2022 | MBA NSW 25