Barrick had a range of formal agreements, policies and processes that underpined its open and co-operative approach to doing business with the Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation (WCC). For example, the Barrick and WCC teams worked collaboratively to ensure procurement of services satisfied the requirements of Barrick’s global procurement standards as well as its local procurement plan.*
This local procurement plan required Barrick to determine whether companies that submitted tenders fell into any of the following six categories:
- Wiradjuri-owned business
- local companies based in the Bland, Lachlan and Forbes government areas
- regional (central west New South Wales)
- state based (New South Wales)
- Australia owned
- international
The Cowal mine also ensured that supplier pre-qualifications did not create hurdles for local suppliers. This made it possible for the WCC in 2006 to win an open tender for a five-year cleaning contract for all Cowal amenities and operational areas. The contract was subsequently renewed on a yearly basis.
Based on this positive experience of working with the WCC, Barrick suggested to the WCC that it partner with an experienced freight company in order to gain the skills necessary to be considered for a tender for the supply of freight, transport and logistics services to the Cowal mine. The mine facilitated an introduction to a well-known transport and logistics company that led to a joint venture that successfully won the tender. Being part of the joint venture represented a great opportunity for the WCC to learn about the transportation business and to leverage this knowledge and develop added service in that sector.