Focus on Procurement interview – Sarah Minson

Where are you from?

I am originally from Canterbury, although I grew up in Te Anau. Now I call Wellington home. 

What did you train in and where did you study?

I studied at Canterbury University, which in the 1990s had a very strong arts focus. The arts are great for teaching people how to write, to communicate, and how to think critically. I left with a Commerce degree and an Arts degree in English and Sociology (with Honours). I majored in poetry which seems a long way from my current job! 

What attracted you to a role in procurement? And what keeps you here?

I love project delivery, and procurement is a major part of that. My role oversees procurement of large capability for the NZ Defence Force – ships, trucks, airplanes and more recently cyber and information related capabilities. It’s big, complex procurement. I feel very fortunate to be working on projects that contribute to the safety and security of New Zealand.

What advice would you give anyone considering a career in procurement? 

Relationship management and interpersonal skills are key. It’s less about specific qualifications and more about knowing yourself and your strengths as it’s quite a people focused area. Some obvious things include a good grasp of English and maths as procurement often involves writing – from requirements to contracts. You’ll need to understand the financial element inherent in buying goods and services. 

If you want to get a qualification, procurement and project management skills are complementary. So a qualification and/or experience in project management is an advantage. If you want to go further, then an understanding of commercial law is also really helpful. If you want to get really specialised then talk to the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS).

Remember you are rarely alone when doing procurement. There will be lawyers, subject matter experts, and other procurement experts that can assist. You don’t need to be an expert on everything. 

What are three things the public do not know about the role of procurement in their lives?

1. Every business does it, to an extent. Companies procure practically everything they use to make, build or provide their good and services.
2. People in the procurement profession come from many walks of life: commercial, legal, logistics, the arts, engineering and general management. Some have made procurement a life-long career, others have used their business and government experience to get into procurement mid-career. Both backgrounds work equally well. 
3. Procurement can be significantly more complex than it appears. Complex procurement requires comprehensive contracts both parties can live with, supported by a team of procurement, commercial, legal and technical experts. And it takes time, but that time at the beginning will be rewarded in the end.

Can you please detail your top three achievements from your time in procurement?

1. Delivering complex projects despite numerous hurdles and ending the project with both parties to the contract satisfied with the outcome. 
2. Mentoring young people into the profession.
3. Managing difficult stakeholder relationships – takes persistence and good relationship management skills.  

You led the combat systems upgrade programme for New Zealand’s two ANZAC class frigates. What was involved in that?

The main outcome of the project was to upgrade the combat and weapon systems on NZ’s two frigates: HMNZS TE MANA and HMNZS TE KAHA. The upgraded frigates now have 17 new world class sensor, weapon and decoy systems, a significantly upgraded operations (control) room and two new masts. This was technically and logistically complicated as frigates by their nature have very limited space inside to move equipment or people around. And like renovating an old house, you never know what challenge is coming next! 

The project team was split between Wellington, Auckland and Canada, with multiple system vendors located around the world. The prime vendor had their own people in Ottawa, Halifax and Victoria (British Columbia). The ships themselves were in Victoria for the upgrade work. So good communication was critical and it’s what I spent a lot of my time on. 

Despite the technical challenges of upgrading old frigates, one of biggest challenges was doing this work during Covid. Each of the organisations had different Covid rules and expectations to navigate. Everyone had to suddenly work remotely for a time but keep the project moving. 

One of the procurement challenges was managing multiple contracts. This included agreeing and establishing several different Government to Government arrangements, taking into account arms transfer controls. Some of the equipment we needed could only be bought G2G, not from the private sector. So we had to buy the equipment, ship it to Canada (with appropriate clearances) and provide it to the vendor to install. 

Another challenge was that the shipyard doing the installation work was a sub-contractor to the prime vendor, not our vendor. Our project team and ship’s crew were co-located in the subcontractor’s shipyard. Building strong relationships with all vendors and sub-contractors was essential and it’s what ensured that we delivered. We were often managing competing agendas and natural commercial tensions. My role was to keep everyone aligned to our goal which was to deliver the upgraded ships to the NZ Defence Force. Which we did!

What is the most exciting thing happening in procurement right now?

NZ is facing a more challenging strategic environment than it has for decades, with two principal challenges: increased strategic competition and the impacts of climate change. Both add risk to our supply chain resilience. 

While this is not ‘exciting’, on a more positive note we are seeing an increased awareness of innovative New Zealand businesses that contribute to both NZ and Australian supply chains in ways we may not have considered previously.

This covers a wide range of industry from areas such as fabrication machinists, uncrewed sea, air and land technologies, space, satellites, and construction of classified environments. This means, for example, we won’t need to order and wait for a new part for a radar system to come from Europe, as we can get that part manufactured in NZ – at lower cost to the taxpayer and with less impact on the environment.

In an ideal world where you were not confined by a budget, what would you introduce to procurement that could help the industry function and develop?

An effective procurement management tool/application that is linked to project and finance management tools.

In your opinion what is New Zealand’s greatest contribution to the procurement community here or overseas? 

Leadership in terms of honesty, openness and our stance on corruption. New Zealand is recognised internationally as being open and transparent to deal with, polite but firm, and clear on what we need and what is acceptable. We also deliver projects with significantly fewer people than our overseas counterparts.

Nominate someone for our series

We want to interview people who are at any stage in their careers in procurement.

That can be the graduate who has just dipped their toe in the industry, the critic, the influencer, the person not afraid of an interesting project, to the leaders in procurement who are pushing the envelope on what procurement can do and enabling their teams to succeed.

This is an interview series that celebrates the procurement community. If you know of someone who would be good to interview or someone who has something interesting to say email us.