The Western Sydney Aerotropolis has brought federal, state and local governments together at an almost unprecedented level. They have cooperated to develop an economic development strategy for a thriving Bradfield City Centre that is set to thrive alongside Sydney and Paramatta. Their shared vision is for a commercial ecosystem that transforms paddocks into a state-of-the art green city that will be home to advanced manufacturing, research, science and education.

There’s an element of ‘chicken and egg’ to the scenario.

The governments won’t see their vision realised without the participation of commerce and industry in this development. But the private sector has been reticent to commit to something that until recently was little more than a highly attractive vision.

The NSW Government has set up the Western Parkland City Authority as the agency responsible for delivering, coordinating and attracting investment for the centre. One of the first steps in attracting commerce and industry participation was encouraging investment from global firms that would then provide incentive for local companies to further invest in infrastructure, facilities and operations.

With 18 Memorandum’s of Understanding (MOU) signed with these large multinationals (see companies below), the NSW government has something tangible to take to the market. Although not legally binding, these MOUs have reduced risk for local companies whilst providing a level of certainty for both the multinationals and NSW government that the Bradfield vision will be realised.

In addition, the state government has injected $1.15 billion to start works. That includes $975.5 million in enabling works to establish and remediate the site and $132 million to develop the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. I see this as an act of good faith to prove the government’s commitment to seeing its vision realised.

Below we have included the Aerotropolis Investor Guide which shows the extent to which governments have committed to the development of this area, and the billions-of-dollars worth of opportunities that come with it.

I wonder how much of this work you already have earmarked within your strategic plans. Especially looking at the pipeline of works it potentially offers.

So, which companies will need contractors to help them deliver the vision?

Not only will the NSW Government be procuring for the enabling works and construction works, but each of the companies below will also be looking to design, build and construct.

Advanced Technologies

Space, Aviation, Defence

Agriculture, Healthcare, Logistics

Project Facilitation

Education

Other work being mentioned

The indicative tender opportunities for 2021/ 2022 and beyond that have been mentioned on the Western Parkland City Authority website:

• During Q4 2021 they will be procuring for:
  • Professional services / advisory consultants to develop the plans for the Bradfield City Centre Multi Utility Servicing
  • Site holding works
  • NETM course delivery – tranche 1
• Q1&2 of 2022
  • Civil works and building contractor for First Building – procurement​. Hassell has just been named as the architect for the First Building, an Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility. I wonder who will win the head contracting role to build that and, with that, what subbies they’ll use for the different site remediation and then building works.
  • Procurement of capital equipment for the AMRF
• Q3&4 of 2022
  • Bradfield City Centre Multi Utility Servicing – ROI for design, construction and operation
  • NETM course delivery – tranche 2
• 2023
  • Initial civil works packages for the Bradfield City Centre Enabling Works
  • Procurement for construction of the Bradfield City Centre Multi Utility Services
  • Procurement for construction of the CSIRO building
• 2024
  • Procurement for construction of the AMRF
  • Enabling works for the centre’s public spaces and landscaping

Neuroscience research shows that 93% of our communication is nonverbal and 95% of our decision-making is unconscious. Unless we understand the underlying drivers of the RFTs, we are leaving the win to chance. So much of the tendering or bidding process is about understanding the underlying and unspoken drivers that define a win or loss. Submitting an excellent document is only one element of success. Winning is equally defined by conversations in the background.

I’m wondering whether all the activity going on in Western Parkland City is part of your strategic plan. With tens of billions of dollars of projects coming through in the infrastructure pipeline, what can we do to help? Contact us.

About Adette

My driving commitment hasn’t changed since the day I started KnowledgeCore. I’m here to empower SMEs with the skills, tools and knowledge to go up against their competitors and win. With over 25 years of experience in sales, marketing, HR and business development, I’m as driven as ever to help my clients succeed.

My team and I work on tenders ranging from $90,000 to $2.5 billion and more. And I’m known for caring about the win as much as they do! That’s why our win rate is consistently over 83%. When it comes down to it, I want the money to go into my clients’ pockets rather than their competitors.

 

The global focus on slowing climate change and reducing carbon emissions is starting to impact how contractors in the construction and infrastructure space win pitches and tenders. With the environment becoming an increasingly important topic, the ability to meet sustainability and environmental management targets are already essential requirements of tenders, and will become more critical in the months and years ahead.

Waste reduction, prevention and recycling are proven to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly. They respond to an urgent need and incentivise a shift to a more sustainable way of working. The Solar Impulse Foundation states that we can prevent climate change through renewable energies, waste management and recycling. In addition, we can benefit from a circular economy model that embraces the 3Rs (reduce, re-use and recycle) to significantly reduce waste and minimise unnecessary waste production of new items.

The infrastructure sector accounts for about 70% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, with Infrastructure Australia saying the sector must lead the charge in adopting low carbon technology [1].

Why are we changing?

The economic model of ‘take, make, dispose’ is the leading cause of waste ending up in landfill. In Australia, waste wasn’t necessarily front of mind until China implemented its National Sword Program in 2016-17, thus rejecting Australia’s waste exports. At the time, Australia discovered it was not set up to comply with the contamination limits expected by other Asian countries, which meant we needed to find our own solutions for the millions of tonnes that previously went to China every year. Notably, Australia is not set up to manage or recycle its construction and demolition waste. For example, a 2019 audit of Victoria’s resource recovery sector found Melbourne is at risk of running out of landfill space as early as 2025 (Planet Ark).

The construction and demolition space generates enormous amounts of waste

The Australian construction and demolition sector accounts for 31% of the waste in Australia. This is partly due to the nature of the sector, but also because the conventional design and construction methods lead to significant waste generation (Aust Govt 2020 national waste report 2020).

2018-19 ABS statistics show that

• Australia generated 75.8 million tonnes of solid waste in 2018-19, a 10% increase since 2016-17. (ABS)
• The construction industry generated 12.7 million tonnes or 16.8% of total waste, including from road and rail maintenance and land excavation. (ABS)
• According to the 2020 National Waste Report (2020:x), Australia produced 27.0 million tonnes of masonry waste from the construction and demolition (C&D) sector, amounting to 44% of the country’s total core waste
• Over half of all waste was sent for recycling (38.5 million tonnes), while 27% was sent to landfill for disposal (20.5 million tonnes).
• The total waste generated by C&D grew by 32% per capita over a 13-year period, with most growth over the last 5 years. (National Waste Report 2020:12) Recycling of C&D waste doubled to 20.5 million tonnes since 2006-2007 (National Waste Report 2020:10), and construction waste increased by 22% since 2016-17. (ABS)

Waste will only increase in future, with the $300 billion that is projected to be spent on the public infrastructure pipeline[2].

We are literally drowning in waste

The issue is that between 2016 and 2017, more than 6.7 million tonnes of construction industry waste went into landfill across Australia. The rest was either recycled, illegally dumped, re-used, reprocessed or stockpiled[3].

Australia isn’t coping with the amount of waste being produced. As a result, governments are focused on adopting the circular economy concept, which is at the heart of waste policy to reduce dumping and increase re-use. (National Waste Report 2020:20)

The reality is that with the Asian restrictions on waste, the export bans and the major challenges in finding new markets for our recycled materials, the NSW government is relying on industry to step in and incorporate a much larger percentage of recycled content into the projects that will be developed from the infrastructure pipeline. (National Waste Report 2020:18)

The government set up the National Waste Policy Action Plan in 2019 to achieve a National Resource Recovery target of 80% by 2030. Although 81% of masonry material is recycled, used for energy production or exported, far less metal, timber, plasterboard, asphalt, rock and soil is recycled. According to the National Waste Report, NSW has increased recycling rates of C&D waste from 75% to 80% and plans to increase landfill waste diversion from 63% to 75% by 2021-22 (National Waste Report 2020:53)

How is this relevant to contractors in NSW?

The NSW Government is developing a 20-year Waste Strategy focused on delivering sustainable, reliable, affordable waste. The NSW Circular Economy Policy Statement released in 2019 provides a framework for implementing initiatives that promote durable design, maintenance, re-use, sharing and transforming products into services, remanufacturing and recycling.

As its first steps, the NSW Government intends to embed circular economy consideration in its decision-making and incorporate circular economy principles in its policies and strategies while planning the transition to a circular economy. It has mandated that waste and recycling data be collected from contractors to enable the state to make informed decisions. And with NSW’s infrastructure boom, NSW Government Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2014-21 sets the construction and demolition waste recycling rates at 80%.

What does this realistically look like?

The public sector, from the State Government level to local Councils, is now looking to the private sector to identify and develop more efficient waste management. They are ensuring that businesses that win infrastructure work address their requirements for efficient waste management, re-use and recycling to support the development of a circular economy. The focus is on:

• Reducing the environmental impact on water
• Diverting waste from landfill and an increasing recycling
• Waste is being sent outside the region because landfill sites are becoming too full
• Councils and NSW govt are

Making roads from recycled material is becoming the norm and the expected

It is becoming the norm for councils to specify the use of recycled materials in their infrastructure projects. TfNSW and SSROC (Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils) lead the charge as part of a push for NSW councils to collaborate in setting policies and strategies. This includes procurement processes, where there is a focus on solutions to prevent waste from going to landfill[4].

There is a big push for councils to embrace the AUS-SPEC requirements for road works. These include:

• Using RAP in asphalt restoration
• The use of recycled concrete and crushed rock for backfill material
• Specifications around crushed quartz and crushed glass
• The use of guideposts made from plastic, rubber or similar materials
• Councils are now looking at how contractors are using recycled material as part of their Waste Management plan that includes how they are disposing the construction waste that can be re-used and recycled

Research on waste recycling by the University of Sydney Waste Transformation Research Hub provides a comprehensive guide for council engineers on how to best use recycled plastics, glass, asphalt, concrete and other materials for roads and pavements[5] with TfNSW providing a register of providers that supply approved asphalt mixes

So what’s this got to do with winning work that is sitting in the pipeline? 

The circular economy principles are here to stay and will remain a fundamental tendering requirement. Whether subcontracting to a Tier 1 or 2 or stepping into the head contractor role for more minor works, the key is to understand and embrace the philosophy and ensure that your documentation demonstrates, addresses and meets the environmental and sustainability requirements of TfNSW and local governments.

Winning tenders isn’t based on whether contractors believe they can deliver the service. There are 2 main components to winning work – the document and the people. Winning is based on whether the assessors have enough evidence in the documentation to demonstrate that the contractor they choose is the lowest-risk option for them. Environmental and sustainability management are becoming increasingly high-risk areas and so a significant component of the assessment criteria.

It is crucial, therefore, to ensure that you have clearly:

1. Articulated your sustainability initiatives in each component of the project
2. Demonstrated how each initiative will meet the government objectives and targets
3. Documented your management practices to support these

So, a crucial part of winning work is looking at what they are asking for rather than what we want to say – which can be two totally different things.

Can we help?

Please feel free to contact me on adette@knowledgecore.com.au or 02 9221 0337

 

[1] 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan p22 and Climate Works Reshaping Infrastructure for a net-zero emissions future Issues Paper March 2020 https://www.climateworksaustralia.org/resource/issues-paper-reshaping-infrastructure-for-a-net-zero-emissions-future/

[2] https://www.nswcircular.org/key-sectors-that-will-catalyse-the-australian-circular-economy/

[3] https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2019/jul/construction-industry-waste-landfill – 12 July 2019

[4] Natspec Construction Project Report April 2019:1

[5] Media Release 2 Oct 2020 – Council supported research on recycled road material usage will help environment and economy – https://lgnsw.org.au/Public/Public/News/Articles/2020-media-releases/1002_recycling_research.aspx

 

 

In our discussions with smaller businesses in the build environment we often have to stress fundamentals of tender writing.

Whether your organisation is a tier 2, 3, or 4 in this environment, there are fundamentals that every business needs to get right from the get go. It’s all about your customer/client.  They are the ones making the decision and ultimately paying the fees. Here are 3 fundamental rules that make the difference between a business that wins the tender and those that do not.

1. Understand their business, the key decision makers and their paradigm. The available research indicates the buyer makes decisions of who to use based on their repertoire of tried and tested brands. To them, once you are viewed as part of their repertoire of brands they see you as interchangeable with your competitors and assume your business offers the same benefits.
2. Know the underlying reasons, core issues or motivations driving the decision. Tier 1 companies research why the decision makers behave in a specific way, why they would accept one supplier over another and understand the buying signals. Once this is known you can ensure you are at the head of the queue.
3. Ensure your documents meet their needs and reflect their standards, not yours. Too often companies miss out on a tender because unspoken expectations are not met. And, I have seen cases too where the questions in the tender are not addressed in the submission.  A rookie mistake that costs you business!

What’s your experience?  Do you agree or not?  I’d love to hear your view on fundamentals of winning business.