1. When structured correctly, the AIP Planning process can be a valuable point of collaboration, bringing multiple business functions and stakeholders together.

2. Working to unpack the supply chain requirements can uncover valuable opportunities for domestic industry that may have previously not been considered.

3. Early supply chain engagement, review of risks and opportunities, and commitment to capability development, can assist with maximising “deliverability” requirements.

4. An AIP Plan is sometimes the only document the supply chain has available to understand the project, therefore, it’s important to clearly communicate the local industry engagement standards and commitments for the project.

The challenge for any project when developing an AIP Plan is that a "bare minimum" Plan approach typically indicates a "bare minimum" local content strategy. This can convey a negative impression to prospective main contractors, supply chain, and stakeholders regarding the project's commitment to promoting local content.

The process of formulating the AIP Plan specifically for Cu2 also raised some project-specific challenges, several of which arose due to the tight timeframes in place regarding AIP Plan development and submission due to the urgency to commence the ECI process and long lead time equipment procurement.

Therefore, the primary challenge for the HEA team was to develop AIP Plans that were detailed enough to demonstrate the depth of opportunity available to local industry, while also developed and submitted in an efficient manner to ensure compliance with the Australian Industry Participation Authority.

To that end, both the Cu2 project management team and the UGL procurement team were flexible and accommodating in regard to making themselves available for presentations, reviews and a workshop. This ability to collaborate quickly and efficiently with key stakeholders, enabled the HEA team to mitigate the risks associated with the tight timeframe.

The process of unbundling the procurement packages provided a detailed insight into the "Full, Fair and Reasonable" opportunities for local suppliers, presenting opportunities that may have been overlooked without a comprehensive review and unbundling of the works.

Importantly, this process also ensured that HEA were able to align the definition of local to meet both AIP Plan and Queensland Government Best Practice Principles (BPP), whilst maximising domestic supply chain and employment opportunities.

Specific project activities included:

• Project kick off meeting with all stakeholders,

• Extensive read-in of Cu2 supplied documents relating to the project including designs, procurement plans and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) approaches,

• Procurement package contestability workshop in line with AIP Plan framework and requirements,

• Authoring the draft AIP Plan Notifications and issue for workshopping and additional stakeholder input,

• Facilitating virtual draft AIP Plan review workshops,

• Issue Pre and Post workshop surveys to track AIP Plan development and standards understanding,

• Collect feedback from Cu2 and UGL teams,

• Update final drafted AIP Plans,

• Issue GOLD standard Plans to project team for submission,

• Offered submission support as required.

A successful ecosystem is one built on open and transparent communication, a consistent improvement of practices and approaches and a system framework within which to work.

Therefore, the first step in collaborating with CopperString was the establishment of HEA’s Basecamp project management system. Basecamp works because it provides a simple and easily accessible place for everyone, in every role, to store, work on, discuss, decide and deliver the stuff that makes up every project. All project information, tasks, events, documents and communication are intuitively stored and organised in one centralised place where everyone can work together, rather than on separate platforms scattered in various places.

To compliment the Basecamp system, a private SharePoint cloud server for Cu2 and HEA teams to access was also established to make sharing of early research, formal Business Cases and other project specific documentation and revisions of plans easier.

AIP Plans themselves exist within their own ecosystem, which is hosted by the ederal Government. Improving standards of AIP Plan development and submission is a crucial element in any local content strategy and in recognising this, the Government has recently improved their standards and platform for submission. Knowledge of this system is vital to the development, submission and approval of any AIP Plan, and the HEA team have committed significant time to learning these standards and system requirements.

With 15 years’ experience in local industry engagement, the HEA team understand that early involvement in important discussions and early definition of obligations and expectations is essential in ensuring successful development of AIP Plans. The cornerstone of any successful Plan development is collaboration, and to that end, the HEA team embraced a collaborative delivery framework from the outset of our engagement.

Cu2 and the project’s key stakeholders also understood the need for collaboration. As the project covers seven Local Government Areas including Mount Isa City, Cloncurry Shire, McKinlay Shire, Richmond Shire, Flinders Shire, Charters Towers Regional and Burdekin Shire, and with an open economic relationship with Townsville City Council, a collaborative approach was essential to ensure open communication between all parties and that the interests and requirements of both the individual Councils and the collaborative group were being met.

Through the AIP Plan development workshop process, HEA collaborated with the Cu2 team to discover previously unidentified opportunities for the Australian industry. This collaborative effort led to the unbundling of certain works packages, which in turn created greater opportunities for the local industry to participate and benefit.

The workshops also provided the HEA team with a forum to initiate thought amongst the Cu2 project delivery teams regarding how they would engage the local market, with the suggestion of utilising the ICN Gateway ecosystem and conducting regional roadshows for suppliers.

Other areas of collaboration included the opportunity for Cu2 to meet and align with Queensland Government BPP requirements. Whilst not always collaborative politically, from a local content perspective, any major project should aim to align and partner with both Commonwealth and State Government to achieve optimal economic outcomes.