CIPS Australasia Supply Management Awards 2020

Respected as a benchmark for excellence, a CIPS Australasia Supply Management Award is the most prestigious recognition an organisation or individual in the procurement and supply chain profession can receive. It was great to see New Zealand’s public sector procurement expertise recognised in this year’s awards.

This year, Watercare won the ‘Procurement Transformation’ category, Alice Bray from Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transportation Agency (NZTA) took home ‘Young Talent’ and Paul Howard from New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) secured ‘Leader of the Year’.

Congratulations to all the award winners.

40:20:20 – Watercare’s Enterprise Model

Winner: Procurement Transformation

Watercare team

The Enterprise model is Watercare’s new collaborative procurement strategy. It’s designed to deliver its bold 40:20:20 vision: reducing carbon in construction by 40% by 2024, reducing the cost to deliver by 20% by 2024, and improving health, safety and wellbeing by 20% year on year.

The strategy relied on a three-stage evaluation process, including interactive workshops. This process took only seven months, from initiating the team to signing the contract on 27 September 2019. Under conventional methods, this would have taken 12-18 months, but Watercare’s empowered procurement team ensured the process was achieved with speed, quality and confident management.

“We're really honoured and excited that Watercare and the Enterprise Model won the CIPS Australasia Supply Management Awards for Procurement Transformation award.

It's great to see other Kiwi organisations and water utilities in the shortlist. A great outcome for the profession in New Zealand.” Stuart Bird, Head of Supply Chain.

Strive for positive impact – Alice Bray, CIPS Australasia Young Talent 2020

Winner: Young Talent

Alice Bray - Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA)

Alice entered procurement in 2017 as part of our Procurement graduate programme. She completed three secondments to various government agencies where she gained a breadth of experience across corporate, IT and social services procurement.

Since starting at NZTA in 2019, Alice has spearheaded agency-wide procurement analytics and, in her new role as Senior Sustainable Procurement Advisor, she is now responsible for embedding the enterprise-wide approach to broader outcomes in procurement activities. This included the reconnect and evolution of the cross-government working group, leading broader outcomes procurement advice across large projects, developing foundational broader outcomes procurement policy and best practice, and ensuring outcomes are pursued in partnership with key stakeholders and suppliers, public and private sector organisations and Māori as Te Tiriti partners

In 2018 Alice completed Level 4 CIPS and is currently completing the CIPS Corporate Award Programme to gain MCIPS in November 2020. She is now a mentor for other young professionals, and champions procurement as a rewarding career path like at recent events such as the Victoria University of Wellington Careers Expo.

Outside of work, Alice founded and manages ‘Consciousness’, a social media platform dedicated to inspiring people to consciously choose ethical, sustainable and social impact suppliers.

In 2018 Alice completed Level 4 CIPS and is currently completing the CIPS Corporate Award Programme to gain MCIPS in November 2020. She is now a mentor for other young professionals, after recently championing procurement at the Victoria University of Wellington Careers Expo.

“It’s an honour to be recognised by CIPS Australasia as the Young Talent for 2020. I am one of many young procurement professionals championing change across the public and private sectors, and I’m proud to represent that community. I hope this award stirs up a challenge in our sector’s young professionals to strive for positive impact in the work they do, and to always challenge themselves to grow. As always, ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini – success is not the work of one person, but the work of many.” – Alice Bray, Senior Procurement Advisor – Sustainable Procurement.

Passionate about great procurement – Paul Howard, Leader of the Year 2020

Winner: Leader of the Year

Paul Howard - New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF)

Paul Howard began his procurement career in 1982 and has led and delivered many key strategic procurement projects.

At NZDF, Paul leads a large team and is responsible for supporting and contributing to the delivery of NZDF’s ‘Force for New Zealand’ strategy 2025. The organisation has an unprecedented level of complex commercial work centred around long term strategic supplier relationships and supporting the introduction of new capabilities that requires resilience and courage from its procurement leaders. Paul is instrumental in achieving targeted and meaningful results by engaging suppliers, customers and stakeholders early. He is committed to improving processes, tools, reporting and commercial data, establishing fit-for-purpose procurement panels of suppliers while maintaining customer centricity. Throughout his career, Paul has focussed not only on his own development, but also on that of his team and his fellow procurement colleagues.

“I am absolutely delighted to have been named CIPS ANZ Procurement Leader of the Year, it’s a great honour and I feel very humbled. I’m passionate about great procurement and committed to development of the profession globally and especially here in New Zealand” – Paul Howard FCIPS, Chief Commercial Officer.