MEDIA RELEASE
22 August 2022
Fifth recipient of Procurement Australia's Paul James Everitt Scholarship announced
Procurement Australia today announced Georgie Christopher, as the fifth recipient of its $10,000 Paul James Everitt Scholarship.
Announced at its 15th Annual Procurement Australia Conference in Melbourne today by Chief Executive Officer, Mr Joe Arena, Christopher’s success was paved by her determination to become an industry leader in the world of sustainable and strategic procurement. Christopher’s motivation to apply for the scholarship stemmed from a desire to develop a deeper understanding of effective category management and the impact of social and environment procurement practices on future procurement activities.
In accepting the scholarship, Christopher intends to commence her Business Process Analyst (BPA) studies and apply for her MCIPS Advanced Practitioner Certification. She intends to apply what she learns through her BPA studies to develop fit-for-purpose processes and system automation to capture and report data relevant to procurement professional analysts. In providing this improved data collection process, Christopher envisions that it will allow procurement team’s to better analyse their supplier's performance, especially around social procurement objectives established as part of the Victorian Government's Social Procurement Framework.
To win the scholarship, Christopher demonstrated the gap between council’s current ability to track and monitor spend on social procurement activities and the benefits that can come if these efforts can be traced, implemented and improved. Christopher also expressed her enthusiasm to become MCIPS certified in order to continue to add value and her own expertise as a rising strategic procurement leader, especially as we enter this new phase of sustainable and holistic procurement.
Accepting the scholarship, Christopher said that while the procurement environment is becoming more complex, especially around new and emerging requirements, having the right systems in place to collate information only makes the procurement process more powerful.
“Establishing KPIs, categorising and data capture and reporting is a challenge in the LG setting, however getting this right will bring visibility to how these deliverables are being met.
“By developing my skills in this area, I hope to be able to develop as a procurement professional in my own right, while also helping to increase transparency and efficiency in local government procurement, especially when it comes to social and environmental outcomes,” she said.
Christopher cited the syllabus of both the BPA and MCIPS programs as key to her development as a strategic procurement professional. With a focus on business analysis, strategic procurement management, advanced category management and people development, both qualifications will allow Christopher to pursue her goals as a implementer of sustainable and seismic change in the procurement industry.
A panel of judges considers all applications for the Scholarship which was first gifted by Procurement Australia in 2015 to fund either study, a secondment, training course, research or development of a paper that adds value and insights for the sector.
Joe Arena said: “It’s a great honour to announce Georgiae as our fifth Scholarship recipient for a very worthwhile continuous improvement project.
“We are very excited to see where your skill and determination takes you and will be eagerly supporting and monitoring your efforts to substantially improve the planning and assessment of social procurement activities in local government.”
“Paul Everitt was a well-respected colleague of Procurement Australia who passed away in 2015 and, by honouring his memory with this scholarship, the Procurement Australia Board has successfully etched out a path for us to productively invest in people working in the procurement sector.
“As such, it fittingly recognises Paul Everitt’s contribution to procurement in the area of project delivery, government purchasing compliance, contract sourcing and supply chain management,” he said.
