Cenitex moves to centre-led procurement model with integrated SaaS platform

Cenitex is a Victorian state-owned enterprise responsible for delivering quality, innovative ICT services that increase productivity, enhance agility, and drive better outcomes for the state’s public sector.

Historically, procurement at Cenitex was managed by a centralised team handling 800–900 transactions each year — many of which were lower-value, lower-risk commodity purchases. For procurement professionals, this meant a heavy volume of tactical, time-consuming work.

GM of Procurement, Tim Jones, recognised that transitioning from manual processes to a digital solution could address these challenges. However, he avoided rushing into a platform decision without clearly understanding the core issues. By surveying internal customers and consulting his own team, he developed a problem statement that became the foundation of the project:

“Centralised procurement created a bottleneck for commodity purchases, impacting timelines and frustrating Project Managers. Attempts to bypass the bottlenecks could lead to issues with non-compliance that then required retro-fitting from the Procurement team. This resulted in the precise outcome Project Managers were trying to avoid — delays due to Procurement.”

Both Project Managers and the Procurement team were feeling pressure. PMs struggled to maintain delivery momentum, Procurement received mostly “urgent” requests, and suppliers were often forced to rush RFQ responses — creating potential reputational impacts for both the team and Cenitex as a whole.

Setting the Foundation

The greatest opportunity for transformation was identified in the lower-value, lower-risk commodity purchasing where transaction volumes were highest. Implementing a system that enabled non-Procurement staff to compliantly source and evaluate quotes would free significant resources for more strategic activities.

Jones explains: “We had the most to gain by focusing on the source-to-award function, which is what Unimarket does really well. And as 90% of Cenitex purchasing goes through State Purchase Contracts that are managed on the platform, it made sense to use it to commence a shift toward a centre-led procurement model.”

The initial focus was on setting up two high-use panels that buyers could access directly without Procurement intervention.

Jo Cross of ArcBlue Procurement Consulting was engaged as a change management specialist to help scope communication and delivery needs and oversee project milestones. Cross commended the Cenitex approach:

“Instead of simply throwing the tool at the problem and expecting it to fix it, Cenitex have done an excellent job of understanding the problem set and ensuring their solution addresses each item. They have taken the time to get the correct setup right from the outset.”

Empowering Buyers with Additional Tools

One of the early initiatives was the creation of a practical, accessible Buyers’ Hub containing resources to support more autonomous sourcing. Staff can also access Unimarket’s (formerly VendorPanel) logic-tree functionality to guide purchasing decisions. By answering a simple series of questions, buyers are presented with the exact process and compliance requirements they need to follow.

These tools were critical in enabling the shift from a centralised to a centre-led procurement model. Jones says: “We’re doing all we can to enable buying staff to be autonomous. The more we can safely minimise the load on Procurement, the more time and resources we have for strategic contract and supplier management.”

Future Plans

With strong foundations in place, Jones is now receiving proactive requests from Project Managers eager to adopt the new system. The plan is to continue adding preferred supplier arrangements so that all sub-tender purchasing can be managed through the platform, improving governance and reporting across Cenitex.

Cameron Male, responsible for Procurement Transformation & Reporting, notes: “[With Unimarket] I know our buyers are compliant, and supplier management occurs in the system. I have complete visibility across the process and am able to easily download audit-ready reports.”

This visibility will allow Male to focus on Cenitex’s digital strategy. Work is now underway on a technology roadmap to replace legacy systems with more agile, integrated software — creating an ecosystem of best-of-breed solutions.

“Unimarket is the first domino. None of our current systems talk to each other and the manual input of information creates a lot of work. Having the systems connected will enable us to run robust analytics and look at instigating robotics automation.”

Unimarket’s integration strategy — designed to securely connect up- and downstream systems — will support Cenitex’s broader digital transformation vision.