South Australia is a SME State with 96% or more businesses classified as ‘small’, and a significant amount of these businesses want to access work from government.

The South Australian Industry Participation Policy (SAIPP) is designed to grow the economy, create jobs and support the diversification of South Australia’s industry sectors, and this is where Industry Participation in procurement can play a significant role.

The policy measures the economic benefit to the State, assigns importance to this, and ensures that there is a minimum of one business within South Australia quoting for work. This creates enormous potential for the state’s businesses that employ South Australians.

The Connecting with Business program run by the Office of the Industry Advocate educates businesses on the need to be aware of these opportunities, and skilled enough to fulfill them.