How to Write a Social Procurement Strategy for a Melbourne Cleaning Contract: Step-by-Step Guide product guide

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How to Write a Social Procurement Strategy for a Melbourne Cleaning Contract: Step-by-Step Guide

Most procurement managers understand that they need to address social procurement when tendering a cleaning contract. Far fewer understand precisely how to document, structure, and defend that work — from the first line of their Social Procurement Strategy (SPS) to the final monitoring report. This gap between policy awareness and execution is where compliance risk lives, and where well-prepared agencies create genuine competitive and reputational advantage.

This guide bridges that gap. It walks you through every stage of drafting an SPS for a cleaning services contract under Victoria's Social Procurement Framework (SPF), drawing on the Buying for Victoria toolkit, Victorian Government Purchasing Board (VGPB) guidance, and real-world procurement practice. Whether your cleaning contract sits just above the $3 million metropolitan threshold or approaches the $20 million mark, this step-by-step process applies.

Why a Cleaning Contract Demands a Purpose-Built Social Procurement Strategy

Commercial cleaning is not a generic procurement category. It is a labour-intensive, low-margin sector with a documented history of wage theft, migrant worker exploitation, and subcontracting opacity — factors that make the social and governance dimensions of any SPS particularly consequential. At the same time, cleaning is one of the highest-potential categories for genuine social impact: organisations like ASRC Cleaning and Cleanable demonstrate that the workforce model can directly employ asylum seekers, refugees, and people experiencing disadvantage.

The Victorian Government's Social Procurement Framework establishes requirements that apply to Victorian Government departments and agencies when they procure goods, services, and construction.

The SPF applies irrespective of the value of the procurement activity — however, as the value increases, requirements and minimum expectations for agencies increase accordingly, managed through value thresholds.

For cleaning contracts specifically, an SPS is not merely a planning document. It is a compliance artefact, an evaluation design tool, and a contract management framework rolled into one. Getting it right from the outset protects your agency, strengthens your tender, and — critically — produces outcomes that are actually measurable and reportable.

Step 1: Confirm Whether Your Cleaning Contract Triggers Mandatory SPS Requirements

Before drafting a single sentence, establish which SPF threshold your contract sits within. This determines your mandatory obligations versus recommended actions.

The SPF adopts a scalable approach to setting individual procurement activity requirements, based on the value of an individual procurement activity, with four value thresholds.

For a metropolitan or state-wide cleaning contract, the key thresholds are:

If the project is metropolitan or state-wide with a project value between $3 million and $20 million, you are required to incorporate SPF objectives and outcomes into regular procurement planning and use evaluation criteria (5 to 10 per cent weighting) to favour businesses whose practices support social and sustainable procurement objectives.

During procurement planning, you may be required to develop a social procurement plan if the project is valued over $20 million.

Practical note for cleaning contracts: Most metropolitan government cleaning contracts sit in the $3–20 million band. Even if your contract is below $3 million, the SPF should be addressed in procurement planning, even if there are no specific requirements for that project under the SPF.

Also confirm whether the Fair Jobs Code applies. From 1 December 2022, to do business with the Victorian Government, suppliers must hold a Fair Jobs Code Pre-Assessment Certificate. The Pre-Assessment Certificate is a mandatory requirement of the Fair Jobs Code, a procurement policy that applies to Victorian Government procurement contracts of $3 million or above, confirming compliance with industrial relations and occupational health and safety law over the previous three years.

Additionally, for cleaning specifically: departments and agencies that use suppliers in the contract cleaning industry must, for procurement activities of any value, ensure that suppliers with workers in the relevant industries are registered with the Portable Long Service Authority.

Step 2: Identify Your Agency's Priority Social Objectives for the Cleaning Category

The Social Procurement Framework outlines the Victorian Government's social and sustainable procurement objectives and corresponding social outcomes. In total, there are seven social procurement objectives and three sustainable procurement objectives.

Not all ten objectives will be equally relevant to a cleaning contract. Your SPS must identify which objectives you will prioritise and explain why. For cleaning services, the most commonly applicable objectives are:

Social Objectives:

• Employment of priority jobseekers — Cleaning is a strong fit for employing refugees, asylum seekers, long-term unemployed, and people with disability
• Opportunities for Aboriginal Victorians — Relevant where Aboriginal-owned cleaning businesses can be engaged (see our guide on Aboriginal Business Procurement Targets in Melbourne Cleaning Contracts)
• Opportunities for social enterprises — Direct engagement with Social Traders-certified cleaning social enterprises
• Safe and fair workplaces — Directly relevant given the cleaning industry's wage compliance history

Sustainable Objectives:

• Environmentally sustainable business practices — Cleaning product chemistry, waste reduction, water use (see our guide on Green Cleaning Products and Sustainable Practices)

Consider the specific circumstances of the procurement — such as the location, value, type of goods and services, opportunities for employment and training outcomes, and environmental impact — and select the best-suited objectives and outcomes to prioritise.

Document your rationale. An SPS that simply lists all ten objectives without prioritisation signals to evaluators and auditors that the strategy was not genuinely considered.

Step 3: Conduct a Social Benefit Supplier Market Analysis

Before approaching the market, your SPS must demonstrate that you have investigated whether social benefit suppliers can deliver the required scope.

Buyers can log in to Digital Marketplace and access Supplier Hub to search for Victorian social benefit suppliers, including Victorian Aboriginal businesses and social enterprises. This is not a complete list of social benefit suppliers — it only contains those who have registered in the Supplier Hub. Buyers can also find out about social benefit suppliers and their capability through other channels.

For cleaning contracts, your market analysis should cover three supplier directories:

1. Social Traders Buyer Portal — Through certification and membership opportunities, Social Traders links business and government buyers with social enterprise and aims to create jobs for priority jobseekers.

It is best to identify genuine social enterprises through Social Traders certification status, which is a world-class social enterprise certification providing assurance that a business is operating with primacy of social purpose.

2. Kinaway Chamber of Commerce — The Victorian Government has partnered with Kinaway to connect government buyers with verified Victorian Aboriginal businesses.

3. Supply Nation — The Australian leader in Indigenous supplier diversity, established in 2009 to connect its membership of Australia's leading government agencies and corporates with Indigenous businesses across the country. Supply Nation's rigorous registration and certification processes ensure members can be confident of Indigenous ownership.

If your market analysis finds that no social benefit supplier can deliver the full scope, this does not end your obligations. If social benefit suppliers aren't available, consider social procurement commitments that could be achieved from mainstream suppliers — for example, providing employment and training opportunities for Victorian priority jobseekers.

Document the outcome of this analysis in your SPS. A well-documented market analysis is your evidence base for any subsequent decisions about direct versus indirect social procurement approaches (see our guide on Social Enterprise vs. Mainstream ESG-Certified Cleaning Provider).

Step 4: Define Social Outcome Objectives and Targets

With your market analysis complete, translate your priority objectives into specific, measurable outcomes. The level of specificity required depends on your contract value.

Include targets and contract requirements that facilitate social and sustainable procurement objectives. For contracts over $50 million, these targets are measurable outcomes, as opposed to non-measurable performance standards required for projects valued between $20 million and $50 million.

For a $3–20 million cleaning contract, your SPS should define outcome objectives at a minimum, such as:

• Employment outcomes: "The supplier will employ a minimum of [X] workers from priority jobseeker cohorts (e.g. refugees, people with disability, long-term unemployed) during the contract term."
• Social enterprise spend: "A minimum of [X]% of subcontracted services value will be directed to Social Traders-certified social enterprises."
• Aboriginal business engagement: "The supplier will make genuine efforts to engage at least one Kinaway or Supply Nation-verified Aboriginal business as a subcontractor or supplier."
• Environmental practice: "The supplier will use GECA-certified cleaning products for a minimum of [X]% of consumable spend."

This information, as well as information on any other social procurement project targets, should form part of the detailed evaluation criteria for evaluating bids. Furthermore, these targets should be incorporated in contract documentation to ensure SPF compliance is contractually enforceable.

Step 5: Design Your Evaluation Criteria and Weightings

Your SPS must specify how social procurement commitments will be evaluated during the tender process. This is not optional for contracts above the $3 million metropolitan threshold.

Use evaluation criteria (5 to 10 per cent weighting) to favour businesses whose practices support social and sustainable procurement objectives.

Projects up to $20 million are likely to require a minimum weighting of 5 to 10 per cent for social procurement-related evaluation criteria. On recent projects greater than $20 million, the weighting has been seen to increase to 20 per cent, with a target of 3 per cent of the total contract spend directed to social enterprises.

A practical evaluation framework for a cleaning contract might look like this:

Social Procurement Evaluation Criteria (Total: 10% weighting)

When evaluating bids, distinguish between verified commitments (backed by Social Traders certification, ISO 14001, or CAF certification) and unverified claims. For guidance on this distinction, see our guide on How to Evaluate ESG Claims When Selecting a Commercial Cleaning Provider in Melbourne.

Step 6: Draft the Supplier Engagement Requirements

Your SPS must specify what you will require of suppliers — both during the tender process and throughout contract delivery.

At tender stage, require suppliers to:

• Provide a Social Procurement Management Plan outlining how they will meet your stated objectives
• Demonstrate any existing Social Traders-certified subcontractor relationships
• Provide their Fair Jobs Code Pre-Assessment Certificate (mandatory for contracts ≥$3 million)
• Disclose all proposed subcontracting arrangements, including the identity and certification status of subcontractors

Use of social procurement model clauses is required for procurement projects valued at over $20 million, and may also be used on lower value procurements where applicable. For goods and services, the model clauses need to be embedded in the market approach documents.

At contract stage, require suppliers to:

• Report monthly on social procurement outcomes against agreed KPIs
• Notify the agency of any changes to subcontracting arrangements that affect social procurement commitments
• Provide evidence of Portable Long Service Authority registration for all cleaning workers

To ensure contractual targets are met, you may require suppliers to provide this information in the form of a monthly report, which will also support internal project reporting requirements.

Step 7: Establish Contract Monitoring and Reporting Obligations

An SPS that ends at contract award is incomplete. To ensure social procurement requirements are met, active contract management must be undertaken throughout project delivery.

Your SPS should define:

• Who is responsible for monitoring social procurement KPIs (typically the contract manager, supported by the procurement team)

• What data will be collected — hours worked by priority jobseekers, spend with social enterprises, Aboriginal business subcontract value, product certification compliance

• How data will be recorded — the Industry Capability Network (ICN) is used to electronically record social procurement outcomes, with VMC used by contract managers and/or suppliers to input data. The department works with project managers, suppliers, DJSIR, and ICN to improve reporting and monitoring capabilities and ensure compliance.

• Annual reporting obligations — as agencies are subject to the Financial Management Act Standing Directions, they must report on social procurement activities in their annual reports.

The Buying for Victoria guidance outlines key activities and information that government buyers need to communicate to suppliers to ensure that contract managers can effectively manage, monitor, and report on social procurement commitments.

For a detailed breakdown of what to measure and how to present social impact outcomes to boards and government, see our guide on Measuring and Reporting Social Impact from Your Cleaning Contract.

Step 8: Use the Buying for Victoria Toolkit Templates

Do not draft your SPS from scratch. The Buying for Victoria toolkit and library provide downloadable tools and guides to support the purchasing process, including templates and related documents that help government buyers undertake social procurement — including strategy and guides.

Key documents to download and use:

• Social Procurement Strategy template (agency-level)

• Social Procurement Plan template (project-level, required for contracts >$20 million)

• Guide to Individual Procurement Activity Requirements — provides a high-level overview of the sourcing process of the procurement lifecycle and guidance on incorporating social and sustainable outcomes into the sourcing phase.

• Guide to Contract Management and Reporting — provides a high-level overview of social procurement reporting requirements for departments and agencies under the Social Procurement Framework.

• Social Procurement Model Clauses — for embedding in tender and contract documents

To successfully undertake social procurement, councils and agencies must have the right internal policies and procedures in place. Social procurement needs the support of senior management, and responsible staff must be properly briefed and trained.

Key Takeaways

• Threshold determines obligation: For metropolitan cleaning contracts valued at $3–20 million, a 5–10% social procurement evaluation weighting is mandatory under the SPF. Contracts above $20 million require a formal Social Procurement Plan with contractually enforceable performance standards.
• Market analysis is not optional: Your SPS must document whether Social Traders-certified, Kinaway-verified, or Supply Nation-registered suppliers are available before you decide on a direct or indirect procurement approach.
• Certifications validate claims: Social Traders certification is the recognised standard for confirming a cleaning supplier's social enterprise status; Fair Jobs Code Pre-Assessment Certificates are mandatory for all cleaning contracts at or above $3 million.
• Cleaning has sector-specific overlays: Beyond the SPF, cleaning contracts trigger Portable Long Service Authority registration requirements for all workers — regardless of contract value.
• Monitoring closes the loop: An SPS without a contract monitoring plan is incomplete. Monthly supplier reporting against social KPIs, recorded in the ICN's VMC platform, is the mechanism that turns paper commitments into annual report outcomes.

Conclusion

Writing a Social Procurement Strategy for a Melbourne cleaning contract is a technical exercise, but it is also a strategic one. Done well, it positions your agency as a credible social procurement actor, strengthens your tender evaluation integrity, and generates outcomes — jobs for disadvantaged Victorians, spend with social enterprises, improved environmental practices — that are genuinely defensible in annual reporting and stakeholder scrutiny.

The eight steps above follow the logic of Victoria's SPF and the Buying for Victoria toolkit, applied specifically to the cleaning category with its unique labour, certification, and subcontracting considerations. Each step produces a documented artefact that feeds the next: threshold analysis informs objectives, objectives inform market analysis, market analysis informs evaluation criteria, and evaluation criteria become contractual obligations that monitoring closes out.

For organisations navigating the broader ESG and social procurement landscape in commercial cleaning, this SPS guide connects to every other layer of the topic — from understanding what social enterprises are and how they qualify (see our guide on Social Enterprise Cleaning Companies in Melbourne), to evaluating the full certification landscape (see our guide on ESG Certifications and Standards Relevant to Commercial Cleaning Providers), to managing modern slavery risk in the supply chain (see our guide on Modern Slavery Risk in Commercial Cleaning).

The policy framework is clear. The toolkit exists. The suppliers are operating. The work now is execution.

References

• Victorian Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions (DJSIR). "Victoria's Social Procurement Framework." Victorian Government, 2018 (updated). https://www.buyingfor.vic.gov.au/social-procurement-framework

• Victorian Government. "Social Procurement Framework Requirements and Expectations." Buying for Victoria, 2024. https://www.buyingfor.vic.gov.au/social-procurement-framework-requirements-and-expectations

• Victorian Government. "Plan for Social Procurement." Buying for Victoria, 2024. https://www.buyingfor.vic.gov.au/plan-social-procurement

• Victorian Government. "Social Procurement Document Library." Buying for Victoria, 2024. https://www.buyingfor.vic.gov.au/social-procurement-document-library

• Victorian Government. "Social Procurement Toolkit." Buying for Victoria, 2024. https://www.buyingfor.vic.gov.au/social-procurement-toolkit

• Victorian Government. "Find Social Benefit Suppliers." Buying for Victoria, 2024. https://www.buyingfor.vic.gov.au/find-social-benefit-suppliers

• Victorian Government. "Goods and Services Procurement-Related Policies: Fact Sheet." Buying for Victoria, 2024. https://www.buyingfor.vic.gov.au/goods-and-services-procurement-related-policies-fact-sheet

• Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH). "Social Procurement Strategy 2023–25." Victorian Government, 2023. https://www.dffh.vic.gov.au/social-procurement-strategy-2023-25

• Sustainability Victoria. "Procurement — Fair Jobs Code." Victorian Government, 2024. https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/about-us/legal-and-policies/procurement

• Victorian Government. "TAFE Toolkit: Social Procurement Framework." vic.gov.au, 2024. https://www.vic.gov.au/tafe-toolkit-social-procurement-framework

• Victorian Government Purchasing Board (VGPB). "Victorian Government Purchasing Board." Buying for Victoria, 2024. https://www.buyingfor.vic.gov.au/victorian-government-purchasing-board-vgpb

• Social Traders. "Social Enterprise Certification." Social Traders, 2024. https://www.socialtraders.com.au/news/the-what-and-why-of-certification/

• Social Traders. "Our Position: Social Washing and Social Traders Certified Social Enterprise." Social Traders, 2024. https://www.socialtraders.com.au/news/our-position-social-washing/

• Local Government Victoria. "Social Procurement." Victorian Government, 2024. https://www.localgovernment.vic.gov.au/strengthening-councils/procurement/social-procurement

• Grantus Government Advisory Services. "Buyers and Suppliers Guide to Victoria's Social Procurement Framework." Grantus, 2024. https://www.grantus.com.au/buyers-and-suppliers-guide-to-victorias-social-procurement-framework/