Social Procurement Case Study: Yarra City Council's Street Cleaning Contract
The Yarra City Council partnered with the Brotherhood of St Laurence to support its municipality through the delivery of a contract that included positive social impacts as key deliverables.
Quick Links: Idea - Innovation - Legalities - Key Results
The City of Yarra is home to a diverse range of people, including large numbers of recently arrived migrants and refugees. Within the municipality there are a number of high-rise public housing estates which have historically been the subject of complex social issues, including high unemployment rates.
Within the council a number of issues had emerged in relation to parks and environmental services that also needed to be addressed, including:
• an ageing workforce in the council depot
• an unsatisfactory street cleaning contract
Given there existed a design issue in the street cleaning contract, which was close to expiry, council staff saw an opportunity to think strategically and determine if there were opportunities to link the high unemployment rates, an ageing workforce and the contract expiry in a creative manner
The organisation contracted to deliver the existing street cleaning service chose to focus on delivering the existing contract, presenting an opportunity create a variation to the existing contract.
For a number of years the Brotherhood of St Laurence (BSL) had been running social enterprises in the City of Yarra creating employment opportunities for unemployed public housing tenants and demonstrating that social enterprises have the ability to deliver quality employment and service delivery outcomes. The Brotherhood’s model focused on employing and training participants over 12 months and then supporting them to obtain mainstream employment. Yarra City Council found merit in the idea of supporting the community through the delivery of a contract that included positive social impacts as a key deliverable. Together the two organisations embarked on a joint venture to develop an innovative solution.
It was decided to trial the engagement of unemployed residents from high-rise public housing estates to deliver the street cleaning contract in the suburbs of North Fitzroy and North Carlton. The creation of a pathway for their longer term employment was an added positive social outcome.
Negotiation to vary the contract with the existing supplier covering particular localities and activities and the associated monetary amount was necessary. By breaking off the suburbs of North Fitzroy and North Carlton from the existing street cleaning contract and awarding it to BSL, an application for an exemption from the Minister was required as the financial threshold of $100,000 was exceeded. An exemption was granted and the BSL was awarded a contract to provide the following street cleaning services in the North Fitzroy and North Carlton areas:
• collecting laneway waste
• spraying weeds
• cleaning footpaths
• cleaning pits
• removing graffiti
• removing bill posters
• collecting hard waste
• general beautification
To ensure the venture achieved positive social impacts in the municipality, the BSL assembled a team of seven long-term unemployed residents and residents with a refugee background to take part in the contract delivery.
The outcomes and benefits of the BSL contract were both social and economic:
• procuring a high quality street cleaning service
• recruiting a number of the trainees into the council depot workforce and into positions that were previously difficult to fill, in areas such as graffiti removal and weed control
• addressing issues relating to an ageing workforce
• diversifying the council workforce, leading to positive impacts on the organisational culture
• establishing a pathway to employment for approximately 17 people from the high-rise public housing estates, who are now working at the council depot
• enabling a long-term cost saving for Yarra City Council
• contributing to a more diverse local supply market which was once monopolised.
