Businesses call for NSW Government to award contracts locally during COVID-19
NSW businesses are pleading with the State Government to reinstate Australian-made manufacturing clauses in government contracts as jobs are shipped overseas and interstate. SEE THEIR PLEAS HERE
Local
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- 1700 homes planned for southwest Sydney
- ‘Safety risk’: Train emergency button to divert to call centre
Sydney businesses are questioning the State Government’s decision to award multimillion-dollar contracts to manufacturers interstate and overseas as the COVID-19 pandemic rocks the state’s economy.
In April and May this year as tens of thousands of NSW businesses were forced to close, two Victorian companies were awarded a total of $7.5 million to make uniforms for Service NSW staff and prison inmate shoes for Corrections NSW — part of the $34 billion spent in government contracts each year.
The Workwear Group, a Victorian company awarded the $4.5 million contract for Service NSW uniforms bases its manufacturing operations across Australia and New Zealand. While Designworks Clothing Company, the recipient of Corrections NSW’s $3 million inmate footwear contract, produces the joggers in China.
The Workwear Group had also previously been awarded a $2.05 million contract for field and formal uniforms, jumpers, fleeces and jackets, rain wear, volunteer uniforms, accessories, and footwear for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, as well as staff at Taronga Zoo.
At the same time as awarding these contracts, the State Government continues to develop a NSW-made procurement website with more than 400 local businesses calling on people to “Buy NSW made”, while also campaigning for shoppers to support regional towns impacted by drought, bushfires and now COVID-19.
But, Tom Abdelrahim and his father Hassan, who have been running textile business Sphinx Australia in Bankstown for the past 25 years, say the State Government need to “practice what you preach” and support NSW businesses when procuring for government contracts.
The father-son team said they hadn’t seen a State Government contract awarded to them since 2012, when they were making a range of uniforms including NSW Fire and Rescue and Ambulance gear for the NSW Government.
Since then they have been forced to shut down their second textile factory.
“There used to be clauses in NSW Government contracts that ensured that the company awarded the work would make the products in NSW,” Mr Abdelrahim told NewsLocal.
“But the new procurement policy for the government doesn’t specify Australian-made anymore, so the work all gets shipped over to China and local businesses miss out.”
Mr Abdelrahim said he has more work from the Victorian Government than NSW, because the Australian-made requirement still stands down south.
“We don’t want to rely on cash handouts during COVID-19, we want to work for the government,” he said. “But we haven’t had a NSW Government contract since around 2012 and are forced to subcontract through international companies to see government work.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, more than 19,000 people in Sydney’s south west have lost their jobs, sparking calls by Bankstown state Labor MP Tania Mihailuk for the government to support local businesses.
“Communities like mine are hurting because of the COVID crisis,” she said. “We see work that could be done in Bankstown being shipped off elsewhere.”
Labor Legislative Council leader, Adam Searle said areas like Bankstown was being hit hard by the COVID-19 recession: “yet instead of creating jobs and supporting businesses here in Western Sydney, manufacturing orders for State Government work are being sent interstate and overseas.”
“Western Sydney has world class clothing and textile manufacturers – so why aren’t we supporting these businesses to do a greater share of that work?” he said.
Mr Searle said the State Government had recently used taxpayer funds to buy ferries from China and Indonesia, buses from Malaysia, trains from South Korea and China, metro cars from India, Light rail vehicles from France and Spain and even imported steel for the International Convention Centre and Sydney Metro.
The continued call from businesses to change state procurement policies comes as BlueScope Steel executive John Nowlan called on the State Government to consider the impact of buying local when it comes to economic benefit.
He urged the government to purchase locally sourced steel for infrastructure projects like the Metro from the company’s Port Kembla steelworks.
Mr Nowlan said the move would “strengthen communities for the future” for customers and suppliers.
Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union manufacturing compliance office, Casey Thompson, said the State Government needed to reintroduce Australian-made clauses in contracts.
“We have highly skilled clothing, textile and footwear workers in NSW,” Ms Thompson said. “The NSW Government should support local manufacturers to make uniforms here and support TCF Jobs in NSW.”
A Corrective Service NSW spokeswoman said the five-year supply of inmate joggers would see shoes distributed to correctional centres across the state from Lithgow, telling NewsLocal seven companies — including two NSW-based ones — were vying for the contract.
“Only two of the seven companies, both from Victoria, met the technical criteria for the tender,” she said. “The final company was selected based on value for money, and trial tests by inmates for quality, wear and tear.”
Meanwhile a Customer Service NSW spokeswoman said nine companies applied for the Corporate Wardrope project, with the contract awarded because the company was “the highest rated vendor and met all mandatory and non-mandatory criteria”.
The State Government has a strict procurement framework with stringent evaluation criteria including mandatory and non-mandatory criteria.
Submissions are assessed by an evaluation panel and rated based on the evaluation criteria set out in tender documents.
The evaluation panel is made up of different stakeholders from multiple divisions to ensure probity and transparency and to achieve value for money.
A Planning, Industry an Environment spokeswoman said a robust tender process with stringent criteria was followed for the uniform project and once again, the contract was awarded to the company as it was considered the highest-rated vendor.
The requirements of the State Government procurement policy were strictly adhered to by the government departments.