With the development of the new Western Sydney Airport and the adjacent Bradfield City Centre, industries including manufacturing, defence and aerospace, pharmaceutical manufacturing, logistics, and agribusiness are expected to grow. The skills required to fill jobs in advanced industries are rapidly changing. To support the development of these new skills, the Western Parkland City Authority (WPCA) has introduced the Industry Skills Accelerator (ISA), offering micro-credentials, which are short, targeted courses that allow workers to build skills and knowledge in just 40 hours.

Given the growing demand for these training opportunities, WPCA has began a tender process through an RFP (Request for Proposal), seeking responses from parties interested in operating, expanding, and potentially owning the ISA.

Through this RFP, WPCA aims to achieve the following objectives:

• Increase industry productivity around the Western Sydney Airport by upskilling the local workforce.
• Increase the impact of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility (ARMF) through skills development targeted to the ARMF’s capability areas.
• Expand the ISA to lift industry productivity across NSW.

WPCA has proposed two scenarios:

• Operator and investor: WPCA retains ownership of the ISA model, and the operator manages its operations.
• Owner, operator, and investor: An investor acquires the ISA model.

In both scenarios, the responsibilities of the operator and investor are to:

• Manage day to day operations of the ISA and ensure the ongoing delivery of existing micro-credentials.
• Work closely with the AMRF team to ensure that businesses accessing AMRF services are informed of ISA mirco-credentials.
• Explore potential options to deliver existing ISA micro-credentials in regional areas
• Scaling up the delivery of the ISA program
• Increasing the portfolio of micro-credentials
• Developing additional micro-credentials that are aligned to the AMRF
• Develop additional micro-credentials relevant to industries across NSW

WPCA will evaluate applications based on strategic and operational capability, sector experience and network, funding proposal, readiness, and alignment

The deadline for responses is the 10^th of June 2024.

If you are after further advice on this topic or any tender opportunity, feel free to contact us. You can also subscribe to this newsletter for regular weekly updates.