Amotai champions supplier diversity
Amotai is working alongside the Provincial Development Unit (PDU) and Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK) to embed supplier diversity in hundreds of regional projects that were announced as part of the COVID-19 economic recovery programme.
This work contributes to a new progressive procurement policy, announced in December 2020, that aims to increase the diversity of government suppliers and to develop a more intentional approach to the government spend to achieve broader economic and social outcomes. Mandated agencies now need to ensure that at least 5% of the total number of annual procurement contracts are awarded to Māori businesses. The definition of a Māori business is either a Māori Authority as classified by the Inland Revenue Department or one that has at least 50% Māori ownership.
Amotai is the intermediary organisation working with government as a prototype organisation to assist with the implementation of the progressive procurement policy with a focus on Māori businesses.
Implementation of the policy is a joint project between Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and TPK. The implementation of this policy is supported Te Kupenga Hao Pāuaua, a project team based at TPK.