Principles of industry engagement
- There are 8 principles of effective industry engagement.
- Industry engagement benefits buyers and suppliers.
- The principles help ensure probity, reduce risks, and foster trust between NSW Government and the industry.
The 8 principles benefit you and your suppliers
The best industry engagement is aimed at benefiting buyers and suppliers by providing access and communication and enabling discussions of new or future developments in the industry.
Industry engagement is a separate process to individual procurement processes.
Click on the headings below to learn more about the 8 principles for effective industry engagement, or select Expand all.
The best way to be an informed buyer is to target your industry engagement effectively from the beginning. A solid, up-to-date understanding of the market place will ultimately save you and your suppliers time and effort when it comes to procuring goods and services.
Sometimes, you can gain market knowledge from a NSW Government knowledge base. Other times, you'll need to do your own research and start from scratch.
Having clear objectives will make your industry engagement more structured and focused. It will also enable more targeted discussions.
This will help both you and your suppliers prepare for an effective engagement process.
You can encourage innovation by engaging with the widest possible range of suppliers. You’ll also receive broader knowledge through a cross-section of responses, which will help develop a tighter strategy to approach the market. Make sure you include large and smaller suppliers, if you can.
A wide-ranging engagement also avoids accusations or suspicions of favouritism from other suppliers.
Be open to giving suppliers information about past procurements. But only do it to help potential suppliers understand how you've previously approached the market.
Undergoing an industry engagement doesn’t mean you’re dissatisfied with past procurements. It only means you're open to understanding the market better, so you can shape your future procurements.
It’s always best to focus on potential future ways your agency’s needs can be met.
Always look to preserve the reputation of the NSW Government and encourage suppliers to be interested in government procurement activities. This means making sure the industry engagement process is open and transparent.
Base every decision on evidence. Treat all suppliers equally so that no one can legitimately accuse you of bias.
Always maintain the highest standards of probity and behaviour and maintain a neutral stance. Probity concerns can damage the reputation of the NSW Government in the market. Worries about probity can discourage suppliers from participating in future business opportunities.
Never give or receive gifts from suppliers. If it's unavoidable, make sure you follow your agency's gifts and benefits policy, which will require you to declare or relinquish the gift to other staff.
Never allow a perception to grow that any supplier has unjustifiable influence over the industry engagement process.
As part of the industry engagement process, suppliers will likely trust you with their intellectual property (IP).
Always deal with intellectual property appropriately, by keeping the details private. Never share IP with other suppliers, friends or fellow staff.
Read more about intellectual property on the IP Australia website.
Good recordkeeping promotes confidence in the industry engagement process. It will also make it easier to produce evidence to justify any procurement decisions.
As a minimum, your records should capture:
- the purpose of the engagement
- the details of participants
- a summary of any discussion
- key outcomes and actions.
Next steps: choose your industry engagement method
Once you understand the principles of industry engagement, you're ready to choose your industry engagement method.