QLD Past Events
19 September 2007 - ‘Value Added from both a Procurement and Supplier perspective’.
A very enjoyable evening event was held on 19th Sep in the Novotel, Brisbane, titled
‘Value Added from both a Procurement and Supplier perspective’.
Vince Aisthorpe, Supply Manager at Tarong Energy and John Wafer, Managing Director of Office Max Australia were our presenters for the evening. We were entertained with some healthy banter between these very experienced performers. A substantial attendance was treated to professional and informative perspectives regarding the process of how a supplier provides the best value to the customer and vice-versa. The main themes which were common to both presenters’ discussions were:-
• There is a need to build trust in the relationship through communications (two-way street).
• Reliance on the supplier to be the expert in their business field to make the most of process improvements.
• Reward suppliers meeting and beating performance targets with growth opportunities.
We were given some excellent tips on the evening on how to reduce wasteful practises and work with our suppliers to sustain the benefits within the supplier/customer relationships.
Jerry Penny from CIPS Australia’s Melbourne HQ kindly made the trip north to make a special presentation to former CIPS QLD Chair, Rene Kling MCIPS, to formalise Rene's organisation, Supply Chain Management Australia (www.scmea.com.au) as Australia's first approved study centre for delivering CIPS levels, including Level 6 (MCIPS).
Thanks to all for attending and particularly to John and Vince for a fun and rewarding discussion. Thanks also to Office Max for sponsoring the event.
This was our last Brisbane-located networking event in 2007 and your committee is in the process of working on the 2008 events calendar. 
Vince's presentation can be downloaded here.
John's presentation can be downloaded here.
23 May, 2007 - Regional Contracts - How do we get the arrangement right?
The CIPSA business breakfast seminar on 23 May attracted a sizeable and appreciative audience to the Sebel, King George Square to hear Michael Eddie, Head of Transaction Advisory, CGI Consulting Pty Ltd provided his expert views on relationship contracting. Michael has a lot of credibility in this area, having been directly involved in establishing many relationship contracts in both the public and private sectors.
A previous breakfast speaker, Roger Quick, had spoken on alliance contracting and Michael took that further by dealing with the ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of entering into relationship contracts.
Relationship contracting can offer a legitimate alternative to traditional contracting for certain projects. The question of just which projects are suitable will depend on the degree to which an agency/organisation wishes to transfer or share project risk. Under traditional forms of contract, risk is transferred to the contractor. The suitability of relationship contracting rises in circumstances where there are many unknowns and the owner is willing to embrace some of the risk in a collaborative strategy where both parties work together to deliver the outcomes of the project.
Michael explained the principles of such agreements which are:
- all participants win, or all participants lose
- risks and rewards are shared
- decisions are made on a ‘best for project’ basis
- commitment to drive innovation and outstanding performance
- no-blame culture
- transactions are open-book
- communications between all participants is open and honest
Main Roads and Queensland Rail are two agencies that currently have projects which use relationship contracting.
Clearly relationship contracting is a significantly different contracting approach and debate will no doubt continue about its relative merits. Thanks to Michael’s presentation, a lot of Queensland procurement practitioners are now better informed.
28 March, 2007 - Procurement as a profession
Over 60 practitioners, managers and consultants from the South East Queensland procurement community were treated to a virtual feast of experience and insights by four well regarded leaders at the network evening on 28th March at the Novotel Hotel, Brisbane.
The panel of speakers for the evening were:
Evelyn Jelliffe (Director, Queensland Purchasing)
René Kling (General Manager, Supply Chain Management Education Australia)
Andrew Targett (former National Manager of Strategic Procurement, Coles Myer Ltd)
Ian Quinn (Senior Consultant, Hamilton James Bruce)
The CIPS Australia traditional social drinks and canapés at the commencement and conclusion of the evening provided an ideal opportunity for attendees from the private sector, government corporations, local authorities, government and academia to mix and discuss items of interest.
It was very pleasing to see such good support for this activity and the broad range and experience of those who attended. The panel format provided the opportunity for the audience to pose questions directly to the panel and this was well used. Queensland regional Chair, Billie Gorman, expertly managed the proceedings, directing questions to panel members.
It is clearly evident from the questions that there is a high level of interest in formal procurement education and career development among procurement practitioners in Queensland. Events of this nature contribute to the strong reputation of the profession in this State.
The Queensland Committee expresses its appreciation to panel members for their participation and to Hamilton James Bruce (HJB) for sponsoring the event.
The next event is scheduled for late May in Queensland, see lead story for more details.
If you would like to sponsor or host an event in Queensland, please email your details to qld@cipsa.com.au and the committee sponsorship coordinator will get back to you. Alternatively if you have any suggestions for events in Queensland please email those as well.
15 February, 2007 - Alliancing illuminated
The 50 or more people who attended the breakfast at the Carlton Crest, Brisbane on 15th February were treated to an enlightening speech by Roger Quick, Partner, Gadens Lawyers on the topic of Alliancing: Past, Present and Future.
An expert in the field of construction and infrastr
ucture development with first-hand experience in Alliancing, Roger provided a great insight into relational contracts and relationship contracting and contrasted this method with traditional contracting.
The representatives from Department of Main Roads present were familiar with the Alliance Contracting having used this method on several infrastructure projects including the Pacific Motorway. For the rest of the guests it was quite a different approach which has considerable benefits but also some risks.
Alliancing features include the overarching obligation of good faith, shared objectives, sharing of all risks and rewards, agreement to oust litigation and transparency in all financial transactions. These are aspects worthy to strive for. Only time will tell if Alliancing becomes a more common means of contracting for significant projects. However, everyone present came away better informed thanks to Roger.
