Successfully navigating contracts

What are the secrets of winning government contracts, asks John Mitchell. Shockwaves hit training providers in NSW recently when ACL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Navitas, won six contracts to deliver the federal government’s language, literacy and numeracy program (LLNP). ACL will be the lead agency, along with Mission Australia, for the delivery of LLNP services in four regions in Sydney – Canterbury-Bankstown, central west, Fairfield-Liverpool and the inner west. It will also work with the Riverina Community College Western College to deliver the program in Griffith, Leeton and Deniliquin. In total, the contracts are worth $24m over the next three years. The language, literacy and numeracy program is run out of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), and provides up to 800 hours of free accredited training for jobseekers to obtain basic skills for employment. “It’s targeted at disadvantaged jobseeker groups such as indigenous Australians, young people with disabilities, migrants, refugees and those in regional and rural communities as well,” says Helen Zimmerman, Navitas English executive general manager. Securing the hotly contested contract was the result of diligence, not good fortune, says Zimmerman, and was a result of ACL drawing on its specialist experiences and longstanding partnerships, and undertaking thorough preparation, as well as its willingness to listen to the client. “Our core business is teaching English language. Since ACL started in 1987, we would have delivered English courses to hundreds of thousands of clients – both domestic and international students,” says Zimmerman. The tender response document was an opportunity to highlight ACL’s core strengths, says Zimmerman, one of which was the company’s commitment to delivering outcomes and its track record of exceeding the KPIs set out in its contracts. “Another core strength is that we work in genuine partnerships with our clients, whether they be government, individuals, industry or local communities. “And we also have a highly skilled, qualified, experienced workforce.” ACL left nothing to chance in preparing its tender response. It put in place an expert tender preparation team in 2009 to respond not only to the LLNP but also to several other critical tenders. “All of our federal government programs were retendered this year, so we’ve had a substantial team working for over nine months.” A key member of the team was Barbara Barnard, a senior manager in the employment pathways unit which includes the Adult Migrant English Program. “It was obvious in this tender that they really wanted the training to be contextualised to industry. The Adult Migrant English Program has looked in the last few years at facilitating access to employment for migrants and refugees, so Barbara has been working very closely with industry. We were able to bring that experience in too.” Barnard is also managing the start-up of the new services, “putting in place the planning, making sure that we’ve got the curricula, the materials, resources, training the teachers, recruiting new staff”. “DEEWR didn’t give much notice this time. We had five or six weeks, and to hit the ground running, we needed experience, the systems and scale. DEEWR’s expectation was that we will meet their key performance indicators from the start.” Differences to lives Profit is not the driving motivation for ACL, said Zimmerman. “We do this not because we want to grow bigger, but because we know we deliver results that make a difference to peoples’ lives. We’re very focused on ensuring that Australia gets the best out of its migrants and refugees in terms of settlement, that they have lives that are fulfilling and that they’re able to contribute back to Australia. “From a business point of view, it continues to allow Navitas to grow. However we only do that through being able to deliver on what’s asked of us. And as long as we continue to deliver the best quality outcomes, we’ll continue to win contracts.” Contact helenz@acl.edu.au Dr John Mitchell is a VET analyst. See www.jma.com.au