A number of small to medium Bundaberg businesses are now armed with the information they need to win defence contracts.
Bundaberg Sandblasting Managing director Wayne Edwards jumped on the opportunity to participate in the free Defence Ready workshop offered by Council and delivered by consultants Vaxa Group.
He’s spent years trying to win contracts from the Department of Defence with no luck.
“[The workshop] gave the opportunity to obviously find out how to tender and keep ourselves exposed to tender opportunities through major subcontractors that are winning the Department of Defence work,” Wayne said.
“I’ve been trying for Department of Defence contracts for possibly five years now and they’re extremely hard to be a part of.
“So the Vaxa Group will point us in the right direction.”
Wane said he felt Bundaberg Sandblasting had a range and variety of services that would lend themselves to the defence industry.
And with the Federal Government set to invest $214 billion in defence nationally, he was keen to see as many local businesses as possible take advantage of the opportunity.
“We have a fairly unique range of services that we’d like to provide.
“Even if we only get a snippet of that it’s going to be advantageous to Bundaberg.”
Bundaberg Sandblasting keen to take advantage of defence ready opportunity
Not only were local businesses given access to the free workshop, any attendees looking to progress an application for a defence contract will be offered one-on-one support through Council’s consultant.
Wayne said it was great to have that kind of support, previously travelling to Sydney for meetings with subcontractors.
“It’s awesome having someone local we can talk to.
“What Vaxa will help us do is streamline our services and get them out to the buyer.”
He said the advice offered at the workshop was invaluable as he knew his business had the skill and resources to do the work, he just needed help navigating the “loopholes”.
Queensland Computers finds session beneficial
Geoff Augutis from Queensland Computers said it was great to see council partnering with the State Government and private organisations to assist small businesses entering the defence market.
“We received some really useful tips and advice, particularly around the ecosystem and where opportunities exist specific to the Bundaberg region,” Geoff said.
“It is so positive to see so many local businesses looking to support this space and the opportunity to collaborate with different levels of government.”
State Government representatives attended the workshop to give a high-level overview of the significant amount of defence projects on offer throughout Queensland.
Vaxa Group also offered a local overview for region-specific projects.
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