CASE STUDY

The VAILO Adelaide 500 -
Sourcing Infrastructure Goods & Services

ArcBlue was engaged by the South Australian Government to lead and provide key support for the sourcing of all infrastructure and associated goods and services for the 2022 VAILO Adelaide 500 event, involving:

– Rapid sourcing involving 88+ tender processes across the 4-month timeframe

– Identifying and prioritising critical procurement requirements

– Determining the best procurement strategy

– Specialist categories including:

Grandstands
Pavilions
Circuit Construction

Concert Artists
Super Screens
Concert Stage & Equipment

Events Signage
Electrical & Plumbing
Portable Buildings & Toilets

The VAILO Adelaide 500 is a 4-day annual Supercars Australia event held on the streets of Adelaide.

The event was established in 1999 on the former Formula 1 street circuit and is a keystone of the annual South Australian sporting and major events calendar and key tourism drawcard for the State, with attendances of up to 250,000 per year.

In October 2020, the previous Government announced the cancellation of the event and subsequent disposal of all associated event infrastructure.

In the lead-up to the 2022 State election, the South Australian Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas made a key election promise to “bring back the race” if he were to successfully become Premier of South Australia, and that the event would return in early November 2022, only 8 months after the election.

ArcBlue Engagement

With consideration of the extremely short timeframe to the race, the significant volume of critical sourcing activity to be undertaken, and the lack of internal procurement staff, a need was identified to urgently engage experienced support.

ArcBlue was engaged in July 2022, to lead and provide key support for the sourcing of all infrastructure and associated goods and services for the 2022 event. Specialist categories to be sourced for the event included:

Grandstands
Installation of a Pit Pavilion and Hospitality Pavilions
Hire of Super screens and fabrication of support structures
Circuit Construction -track and civil works
Construction and Supply of an International BMX Circuit
Concert Artists – including The Killers, Jimmy Barnes, Amy Shark, and Robbie Williams
Concert Stage and Equipment
Track and Event Signage
Site Electrical / Plumbing
Portable Building / Portable Toilet Hire.

ArcBlue was the ideal service provider to provide this support based on our longstanding and demonstrated experience in delivering significant and complex public sector procurement projects, and strong understanding of SA Government legislation and procurement policies and procedures. ArcBlue has successfully worked with the South Australian Government and the Department of the Premier and Cabinet on a number of strategic procurement projects, including developing DPC’s Procurement Framework.

Further, an essential aspect of this engagement was the requirement for the service provider to “hit the ground running”, and work in a fast-paced environment to immediately progress a range of urgent procurements. Central to this was an ability to quickly interpret information and data across a range of procurement categories, and to ensure the application of best practice procurement and probity to maintain and uphold the integrity of the process.

Collaboration with Key Event Stakeholders

A key early procurement for the event was the engagement of an Event Engineering Project Management partner, of which Integrated Event Delivery Management (iEDM) was the successful provider.

This was a critical engagement for the event, as the track and infrastructure overlay design would make or break the project. iEDM worked together with SA Motor Sport and ArcBlue to identify and prioritise critical procurement requirements and determine the best practice procurement strategies for key work packages.

Related Services

Major Projects & Capital Works

Procurement as a Service

Related Industries

State Government

Infrastructure & Construction

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Key Challenges

Altogether, over 88 tender processes were undertaken across the 4-month timeframe, and 168+ supply agreements and 80+ Purchase Orders were awarded, comprised of a diverse array of goods and services.

Other key challenges that were addressed during the project, included:

Limited supply availability of essential event infrastructure (e.g. portable buildings, portable toilets, marquees) due to limited timeframes and high volume of events being held during the event period;
Rising inflation pressures and rising input cost margins impacting the supply base and input costs; and
Construction delays due to unseasonal wet weather conditions (storm event) throughout the constrained build period, requiring additional site work and procurement activities.

These challenges were overcome by implementing a range of agile supply strategies to be workshopped with key stakeholders and implemented with the supply market.

Outcomes

The 2022 event itself was a resounding success, with 258,200 people in attendance (across the 4 days) which culminated in the event being awarded the ‘Fans Choice Best Event award’ at the 2022 Supercars Australia Gala Awards.

The success of the event was a testament to the hardworking VAILO Adelaide 500 team, its Engineering Project Management Team (iEDM), and its suppliers and subcontractors, including ArcBlue who worked closely together to make it happen.

From a procurement perspective, this was a significant accomplishment and contributed to the achievement of all construction and operational project timeframes, and ensured the best value for money, for the delivery of a major event for South Australia.

Need help with procurement for a major event?

ArcBlue provides commercial advice and support for major events throughout the end-to-end sourcing process including; planning, detailed business requirements translation, market and bid evaluation and commercial assessment of proposals.

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