Procurement – Value Levers

Procurement is a strategic cornerstone for organisations aiming to control costs, improve efficiencies, and boost profitability. Far from simply negotiating prices, effective procurement focuses on multiple dimensions—leveraging value levers across vendors, product design, and internal processes. Understanding and employing these levers can unlock significant financial and operational benefits for businesses across Australia and New Zealand.

In this article, we'll explore key procurement value levers, offering practical insights into their applications and highlighting how Trace Consultants can support organisations to fully realise procurement’s potential.

Understanding Procurement Value Levers

Value levers in procurement are strategic actions and practices organisations use to influence the cost, quality, and sustainability of goods and services they buy. These levers fall into three broad categories:

• Vendor
• Design
• Process

Let’s dive deeper into each of these categories and explore their specific value levers.

Vendor Levers

Vendor-based procurement levers involve managing suppliers more effectively to drive better outcomes. Key vendor levers include:

Supplier Consolidation

Supplier consolidation involves reducing the number of suppliers to streamline procurement operations, leverage buying power, and simplify supplier management. Consolidation reduces administrative overhead, improves pricing through volume leverage, and can significantly enhance service quality due to closer supplier relationships.

At Trace Consultants, we work closely with our clients to identify strategic opportunities for supplier consolidation without compromising on risk management. Our deep market knowledge helps identify the right balance of supplier diversity and consolidation.

Reduced Packaging

Sustainable packaging practices not only deliver environmental benefits but can also significantly reduce costs. Organisations can work collaboratively with suppliers to reduce excess packaging, transition to reusable packaging options, and lower disposal costs.

Trace Consultants helps businesses undertake comprehensive packaging assessments and implements tailored solutions that align environmental goals with cost-saving objectives.

OEM or Low-Cost Country (LCC) Sourcing

Exploring Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) or sourcing from low-cost countries can substantially reduce procurement costs. Organisations must balance cost benefits against quality, lead times, and supply chain risks.

With our extensive global sourcing expertise, Trace Consultants provides practical guidance to identify, vet, and onboard reliable OEM or LCC suppliers, ensuring optimal value and minimal disruption.

Design Levers

Design levers revolve around influencing product specifications and solutions during procurement:

Substitution

Substituting materials or products with lower-cost or more efficient alternatives is a powerful design lever. Organisations can realise substantial savings through careful evaluation and substitution without compromising functionality.

Trace Consultants provides detailed market insights and assists clients in evaluating and validating suitable substitutes, ensuring functionality, compliance, and user acceptance.

Complementary Products

Bundling complementary products or services can yield better pricing and simplified procurement management. Consolidated procurement for complementary goods often leads to substantial savings through economies of scale and streamlined logistics.

At Trace Consultants, we work with procurement teams to identify complementary product bundling opportunities, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives and maximising value.

Standardisation and Customisation

Standardisation of components or customisation based on specific business needs are critical design levers. Standardising products or services reduces complexity, inventory costs, and streamlines procurement processes, while targeted customisation ensures functional alignment with unique organisational requirements.

Our procurement experts at Trace Consultants help organisations determine the ideal balance between standardisation and customisation to achieve operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Process Levers

Process levers focus on optimising procurement processes themselves:

Warranties

Negotiating warranty terms is an often-overlooked procurement lever. Better warranty terms can reduce lifecycle costs and protect organisations from unforeseen maintenance expenses.

Trace Consultants provides guidance on structuring warranty agreements that align with product lifecycles and operational needs, optimising long-term savings and risk management.

Direct or Distribution

Choosing between direct procurement from manufacturers or purchasing via distribution channels can significantly impact costs, inventory levels, and lead times. Direct purchasing typically offers lower costs, while distributors often provide greater flexibility and service.

We at Trace Consultants analyse procurement options, evaluating the total cost of ownership, service levels, and supply chain risk to recommend the most beneficial procurement channels for our clients.

Warehousing Optimisation

Efficient warehousing is crucial for reducing inventory holding costs, improving service levels, and optimising working capital. Organisations can achieve substantial cost reductions through strategic warehouse design, effective inventory management, and efficient logistics operations.

Trace Consultants specialises in warehousing optimisation, helping businesses implement effective warehouse networks, inventory management systems, and logistics practices tailored to specific operational needs.

How Trace Consultants Can Help

Trace Consultants is a boutique supply chain and procurement advisory firm dedicated to supporting Australian and New Zealand organisations achieve significant value through targeted procurement strategies. Our experienced team provides objective, practical, and tailored advice, ensuring each procurement initiative aligns closely with strategic business goals.

We offer:

• Spend Analysis & Optimisation: Identifying opportunities to rationalise, consolidate, and pressure-test costs and scopes of services.
• Strategic Procurement Reviews: Undertaking comprehensive reviews of existing procurement practices and recommending tailored improvements.
• Sustainable Procurement: Implementing strategies that reduce environmental impact, meet compliance standards, and leverage sustainability as a competitive advantage.
• Technology Integration: Leveraging advanced technologies like AI and analytics to provide deeper insights, automate processes, and facilitate better decision-making.

Our objective and solution-agnostic approach ensures organisations receive unbiased advice, positioning procurement as a strategic enabler rather than merely a cost-saving department.

Effective procurement involves far more than price negotiations—it leverages strategic decisions around vendors, design choices, and internal processes to unlock significant organisational value. By thoughtfully applying procurement value levers, businesses can improve their competitive edge, enhance efficiency, and significantly impact the bottom line.

At Trace Consultants, our procurement specialists collaborate closely with organisations, helping to identify, analyse, and implement targeted procurement strategies tailored specifically to their operational needs and strategic objectives.

Ready to explore how procurement value levers can enhance your organisation's performance? Contact Trace Consultants today and let's start the conversation.

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Procurement of Preventative Maintenance Services – A Strategic Imperative for Heavy Asset and Infrastructure Industries

In Australia and New Zealand, organisations operating in infrastructure, mining, utilities, energy, ports, rail, defence, and transport rely heavily on high-value, long-life assets. For these industries, asset performance isn’t just a function of uptime—it directly influences operational capacity, workforce safety, regulatory compliance, and the bottom line.

With economic headwinds, regulatory pressure, and shifting expectations around ESG and cost efficiency, preventative maintenance is no longer a ‘nice to have’—it’s a critical lever in asset lifecycle management. Yet, despite its importance, procurement of preventative maintenance services remains under-optimised in many organisations. Contracts are often reactive, cost-driven, fragmented across assets, or fail to align with long-term operational strategies.

This article explores how to strategically approach the procurement of preventative maintenance services, the challenges asset-intensive industries face, and how Trace Consultants can help organisations unlock value from these essential services.

Why Preventative Maintenance Matters

Preventative maintenance (PM) refers to scheduled servicing and upkeep of assets to prevent failure and extend useful life. Unlike reactive or corrective maintenance, PM aims to address wear-and-tear before breakdowns occur.

In asset-intensive industries, PM is crucial for:

• Reducing Unplanned Downtime: Preventative schedules ensure critical assets don’t fail during production or peak periods.
• Extending Asset Life: Regular servicing delays the need for capital replacement.
• Minimising Safety and Compliance Risks: Failures in infrastructure, mining, or energy can have catastrophic consequences for workers and the environment.
• Managing Costs Over Time: A well-designed PM strategy reduces reactive spend, emergency callouts, and insurance claims.

While the operational benefits are clear, achieving these outcomes requires disciplined procurement and vendor management practices—not just skilled technicians.

Common Challenges in Procuring PM Services

Despite PM’s critical role, many organisations fail to fully optimise their procurement approach. Common issues include:

1. Fragmented Contracts and Siloed Assets

Organisations with multiple sites or business units often let each area procure its own PM services. This leads to:

• Duplication of effort and variation in scope
• Inconsistent standards and KPIs
• Missed opportunities to leverage scale for cost and service benefits

2. Overly Reactive or Time-Based Models

Many PM contracts are still based on rigid time intervals rather than asset condition or usage data. This can result in:

• Over-servicing of some assets
• Under-servicing of others
• Poor cost-to-benefit ratios

3. Insufficient Scope Definition

Scope of services is often poorly defined, leading to:

• Misalignment on what’s included/excluded
• Lack of accountability between owner and provider
• Ambiguity during contract performance reviews

4. Lack of Strategic Supplier Relationships

PM providers are often viewed as transactional service vendors, rather than long-term partners. This undermines innovation, continuous improvement, and responsiveness.

5. Difficulty Demonstrating Value

PM spend can appear as overhead. Without robust performance metrics or benchmarking, procurement teams struggle to demonstrate the value of preventative investment.

Key Considerations for Procurement Teams

To address these challenges, organisations need to apply strategic sourcing principles to PM procurement. Below are the core considerations.

1. Understand the Criticality of Assets

Not all assets are created equal. Procurement should align servicing models to asset criticality:

• High-criticality assets (e.g. high-voltage transformers, escalators in transport hubs, medical chillers in hospitals) may require condition-based or real-time monitoring.
• Medium or low-criticality assets can be serviced through a mix of scheduled inspections and standard intervals.

A risk-based segmentation approach enables prioritisation of spend and performance management.

2. Define the Scope Clearly and Consistently

Good procurement starts with a clear, consistent definition of:

• Asset categories and components
• Inspection, servicing, calibration, testing, and reporting requirements
• Access needs, site-specific constraints, and compliance needs (e.g. ISO standards, regulatory guidelines)

Trace Consultants often help organisations document their current state and develop functional scopes of work that align to ISO55000 asset management principles.

3. Consider Whole-of-Life Outcomes

Rather than just lowest cost per visit, sourcing strategies should consider:

• Expected life extension per asset category
• Reduced downtime risk
• Reduced reactive maintenance callouts
• Improved compliance metrics and insurance risk ratings

This moves the conversation from ‘price per hour’ to ‘value per outcome.’

4. Engage the Right Providers

Not all PM providers are the same. Procurement teams should assess:

• Experience with similar asset classes
• Ability to scale across sites and geographies
• Digital capability (e.g. condition monitoring, reporting tools)
• Safety record and compliance rigour
• Culture fit and partnership approach

Where appropriate, alternative contracting models like performance-based maintenance contracts or bundled service agreements may be more effective than transactional models.

5. Embed Reporting and Continuous Improvement

Contracts must specify clear KPIs such as:

• Completion rates vs. schedule
• Asset reliability improvements
• Downtime reduction
• Response and rectification times
• Audit findings and non-conformances

Embedding mechanisms for quarterly reviews, lessons learned, and innovation pilots strengthens supplier engagement.

A Strategic Sourcing Framework for Preventative Maintenance Services

Trace Consultants recommends a structured approach to PM procurement, using a strategic sourcing and transformation lens. Below is a typical methodology we apply.

Phase 1: Spend & Asset Base Analysis

• Review current PM spend, service contracts, and categories
• Analyse asset inventory, criticality, and condition
• Assess historical maintenance performance and cost drivers

Phase 2: Opportunity Identification

• Identify duplicate contracts, low-performing vendors, or high-reactive spend areas
• Conduct benchmarking on servicing frequencies, costs, and outcomes
• Evaluate internal vs. external service provision trade-offs

Phase 3: Scope and Specification Design

• Define standardised scopes of work and service level agreements (SLAs)
• Prioritise high-impact categories or assets
• Develop asset care plans by type and criticality

Phase 4: Market Engagement Strategy

• Develop Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy (bundled vs. category-based)
• Determine contracting model (e.g. term-based, performance-based)
• Prepare RFx documents with clear evaluation criteria

Phase 5: Supplier Selection and Contracting

• Support tender evaluations, negotiations, and supplier onboarding
• Finalise KPIs, reporting obligations, and escalation processes

Phase 6: Implementation and Performance Management

• Support transition to new providers or processes
• Embed contract management practices and digital dashboards
• Facilitate quarterly reviews and continuous improvement

Preventative Maintenance in Key Infrastructure Sectors

The approach to PM procurement must be tailored to industry-specific operating environments. Below are a few considerations across key infrastructure sectors:

Mining and Resources

• Assets operate in remote, harsh conditions; reliability is critical
• Fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) servicing models often apply
• Contracted providers need to meet stringent safety standards and operate 24/7

Transport and Logistics

• Rail, port, and airport assets require strict adherence to service windows to avoid passenger or freight disruption
• Shared asset environments demand clear accountability between multiple parties (e.g. lessor, operator, government)

Utilities and Energy

• Preventative maintenance plays a central role in network reliability and bushfire prevention
• PM plans must integrate with real-time SCADA and asset condition data
• Increasing expectations around ESG reporting linked to asset management

Social Infrastructure (Hospitals, Universities, Correctional Facilities)

• PM influences safety and comfort of occupants
• Growing expectation to bundle services (e.g. HVAC, plumbing, fire safety) for integrated FM delivery models

The Role of Technology in PM Procurement

Technology plays an increasingly important role in both the execution and procurement of PM services.

Asset Management Systems (AMS)

Robust AMS platforms (e.g. IBM Maximo, TechnologyOne, Assetic) enable:

• Asset lifecycle tracking
• Condition monitoring
• Maintenance scheduling
• Contractor integration

Procurement teams must ensure service contracts are structured to align with the organisation’s digital architecture.

Power BI and Analytics Dashboards

Dashboards enable procurement, operations, and engineering to:

• Visualise PM performance across sites
• Track contractor compliance
• Monitor asset performance trends
• Compare reactive vs. preventative ratios

Mobile-Enabled Field Reporting

Best-in-class PM providers offer digital tools that:

• Capture field servicing data in real time
• Flag defects and non-conformance immediately
• Auto-generate audit trails and compliance reports

Trace Consultants helps organisations design performance frameworks and contract requirements to ensure technology integration is considered during procurement—not as an afterthought.

How Trace Consultants Can Help

At Trace Consultants, we specialise in helping asset-intensive industries optimise procurement and performance across their supply chain and operations.

When it comes to preventative maintenance services, our approach is both strategic and practical. We partner with clients across Australia and New Zealand to:

• Analyse maintenance spend and vendor performance
• Define standardised scopes, SLAs and evaluation frameworks
• Develop Go-To-Market strategies and manage the procurement process
• Identify opportunities for cost reduction, bundling, or insourcing/outsourcing
• Support supplier transition and contract implementation
• Benchmark performance and enable continuous improvement through data

Our work is grounded in deep industry knowledge—from mining to energy, transport to healthcare—and we pride ourselves on being hands-on, trusted advisors.

By engaging Trace Consultants, clients gain not just procurement expertise but a team that understands the operating context of their assets and the broader strategic drivers behind their maintenance strategies.

To learn more about our services and recent work, visit our insights page: www.traceconsultants.com.au/insights

Preventative maintenance is no longer just an operational issue. For asset-intensive industries across Australia and New Zealand, it is a strategic lever for performance, risk mitigation, and long-term value creation.

Yet too often, preventative maintenance services are procured like commodity labour—without the strategic rigour, planning, and alignment to outcomes required to drive real impact.

As infrastructure ages, capital budgets tighten, and safety and compliance expectations rise, the organisations that treat PM as a strategic procurement category—not just a cost centre—will be best positioned for long-term success.

Whether you’re about to go to market, reassessing vendor performance, or looking to drive cost efficiencies, Trace Consultants is ready to help you transform how you procure and manage preventative maintenance services.

How well is your preventative maintenance procurement strategy working for you?

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Reducing Property Services Spend Through Effective Scoping and Go-To-Market

The Overlooked Cost Base in Critical Facilities

In complex environments like airports, hospitals, universities, integrated resorts, stadiums, and commercial precincts, the focus is often on front-of-house excellence—serving passengers, patients, students, guests, and crowds.

But behind the scenes, a quiet but significant cost driver is at play: property services.

Cleaning, security, mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP), waste management, and general contracting services represent millions in annual spend for most organisations. Yet they often go under-managed—locked into legacy scopes, loosely governed, and rarely put to market in a disciplined way.

Trace Consultants recently partnered with a major hospitality and entertainment group, helping them reduce their property services spend by ~24% through detailed scope optimisation and a structured go-to-market (GTM) process. The result wasn’t just lower cost—it was better service, clearer accountability, and long-term sustainability.

In this article, we’ll unpack how you can unlock similar savings and operational uplift—whether you're managing a terminal, hospital, campus, or commercial precinct—and how Trace Consultants can help.

Why Property Services Spend Often Escapes Scrutiny

Property and facilities-related services are foundational to operations—but also easy to overlook:

• Costs are spread across departments or sites
• Scope creep happens silently over time
• Performance is hard to measure (e.g. what defines “clean”?)
• Contracts are often renewed on rollover rather than tendered
• Teams managing contracts are under-resourced or decentralised

For high-footfall environments like airports and stadiums, the variability of demand—driven by flight schedules, events, or peak periods—adds another layer of complexity.

Meanwhile, universities, hospitals and integrated resorts face demands for 24/7 service, regulatory compliance, and increasing pressure on both quality and ESG outcomes.

Despite all this, property services are often treated as BAU—not as a strategic lever for performance and cost management.

Step 1: Understand the Scope – Because Not All Services Are Created Equal

Each category within property services comes with unique dynamics, compliance risks, and cost drivers:

Service CategoryCost and Complexity DriversCleaningShift patterns, loading, sqm, operating hours, deep cleans, consumablesSecurityStatic guards, mobile patrols, technology integration, licencing, response timesMechanical / ElectricalPreventative vs. reactive balance, asset lifecycle, location accessPlumbingEmergency vs. planned jobs, high-risk compliance, out-of-hours coverageWaste ManagementWaste streams (general, clinical, hazardous), disposal frequency, sustainability targetsGeneral ContractingMinor works, ad hoc repairs, procurement pathways, response SLAs

At Trace, we start with a forensic review of the current state, going beyond contracts and cost sheets. We map service delivery, challenge embedded practices, and walk sites with staff to understand where inefficiencies lie.

In airports, for instance, this might reveal:

• Redundant cleaning rotations in underutilised gates
• Security patrol duplication between public and restricted zones
• Inefficient maintenance scheduling around curfews or high-traffic windows

Understanding what’s really needed—and how it’s being delivered—is step one in reducing spend.

Step 2: Redesign the Scope – Don’t Just Cut, Optimise

A common trap is equating cost savings with cutting services. But real value comes from optimising scope, not arbitrarily reducing it.

Here’s how Trace typically improves scope effectiveness:

• Align service frequency to need: Not all areas require daily cleaning—e.g., back-of-house or staff corridors
• Right-size labour vs. consumables: Splitting these can uncover inflated margins or double-ups
• Rebalance in-house vs. outsourced: Some minor maintenance may be better insourced or bundled
• Modernise security models: Transition from static guards to technology-first solutions where appropriate
• Standardise waste processes: Clarify bin types, location zoning, and vendor responsibilities

For example, in our recent hospitality engagement, public area cleaning schedules had not been reviewed post-pandemic—despite significantly lower foot traffic in some venues. Adjusting scope to reflect current volumes created an immediate savings opportunity, without sacrificing guest experience.

Step 3: Go to Market With a Clear and Competitive Strategy

Going to market isn’t just about getting quotes—it’s about setting up vendors for success and driving competitive tension.

Trace’s category-specific GTM playbooks ensure that:

1. Scoping documents are clear and standardised across locations and vendors
2. Market engagement is broad—beyond the usual incumbent shortlist
3. Pricing templates are detailed and comparable, capturing all rate drivers
4. Evaluation frameworks balance cost, capability, innovation, and ESG
5. Commercial models and risk allocations are negotiated based on benchmarks

Airports and universities, in particular, benefit from this multi-category GTM model, allowing them to test bundling options while maintaining service differentiation.

Step 4: Explore Bundling vs. Specialist Contracts Strategically

Consolidating services under a single vendor can simplify management and improve pricing—but only if done right.

We recommend bundling only when:

• Services are naturally interdependent (e.g., mechanical and electrical)
• You have strong FM contract governance capability
• Vendors are genuinely multi-disciplinary—not sub-contracting behind the scenes
• There's clear service-level ownership and risk transfer

In contrast, specialist contracts may be preferable where:

• Service delivery is highly regulated (e.g., clinical waste in hospitals)
• The cost of failure is high (e.g., critical HVAC failure at an airport)
• Operational control needs to stay close to site management (e.g., cleaning at stadiums during events)

Trace helps clients model bundled vs. unbundled contract structures and run dual-track sourcing where needed—ensuring decisions are based on data, not convenience.

Step 5: Drive Long-Term Value with Contract Management Discipline

Securing a better deal is only half the battle. Sustaining the savings requires ongoing contract governance and performance management.

This includes:

• Service-level dashboards for cleaning compliance, security response, maintenance closures, etc.
• Monthly supplier reviews using actual data and agreed KPIs
• Audit and verification of vendor-reported performance
• Invoice compliance checks—especially around call-outs, overtime, and consumables
• Annual reviews of scope, standards and benchmarking

In our hospitality engagement, Trace supported the client in rolling out site-based scorecards for each service line. This drove:

• A consistent approach to supplier management across multiple venues
• Early identification of underperformance and rectification
• Improved stakeholder engagement at the frontline

This same playbook applies across sectors—whether you're managing a runway, a lecture theatre, a surgical theatre, or a retail precinct.

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Why Airports Should Be Paying Attention

Airports are uniquely complex environments:

• They operate 24/7
• They span vast, mixed-use spaces (public, restricted, airside)
• They face strict regulatory and safety compliance
• Their asset bases are ageing and high-maintenance
• They are under pressure to improve ESG performance

Despite this, many airports remain locked into long-standing vendor arrangements with little competitive testing or scope review. The opportunity to reduce cost, improve service resilience, and embed sustainability into the property services model is significant.

Trace has deep experience working in high-availability, compliance-driven environments and can bring mature procurement and facilities advisory capability to airport operations teams.

Broader Impacts: ESG, Sustainability, and Social Procurement

Property services now sit squarely within broader ESG and regulatory frameworks:

• Waste reduction and diversion from landfill
• Sustainable cleaning and chemical usage
• Emissions from contractor fleets and equipment
• Modern slavery and ethical sourcing in labour supply chains
• Local, Indigenous, and social enterprise supplier participation

Trace incorporates these into our scoping, GTM, and evaluation frameworks—ensuring savings are achieved without sacrificing social value or environmental responsibility.

For government-owned entities, universities, and airports bound by state procurement policies, this is increasingly non-negotiable.

How Trace Consultants Can Help

Trace Consultants offers end-to-end commercial and operational advisory to help your organisation take control of property services spend.

We specialise in supporting:

• Airports and transport hubs
• Hospitals and health networks
• Universities and education precincts
• Integrated resorts and event venues
• Retail and commercial asset managers
• Stadiums and major sporting venues

Our services include:

✅ Spend diagnostics and opportunity identification
✅ Scope review and optimisation
✅ GTM strategy and execution
✅ Vendor evaluation and negotiation support
✅ Contract performance frameworks
✅ Implementation planning and benefits tracking

We’re not just procurement people—we’re operators. We bring on-the-ground knowledge of how these services are delivered, and how they can be delivered better.

Property Services as a Strategic Lever

If you're overseeing a major asset or precinct and haven’t reviewed your property services spend recently, chances are you're leaving value on the table.

Ask yourself:

• Are our scopes aligned with today’s operational needs?
• Are our vendors delivering value, or just ticking boxes?
• When did we last competitively tender this category?
• Do we have the data and discipline to drive long-term performance?

Whether it’s cleaning at a terminal, security at a stadium, M&E at a university, or waste at a shopping centre, the same principles apply: clarify the scope, test the market, manage the outcomes.

Trace Consultants can help you every step of the way.

👉 Contact us to discuss how we can help you reduce costs, strengthen operations, and turn property services into a competitive advantage.

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