Purpose‑led delivery. Evidence‑based assurance.

Every day, the infrastructure we deliver supports communities to live, work and thrive. At Ventia, social value reflects our purpose of making infrastructure work for communities  - recognising that the choices made through procurement and delivery shape local opportunity, resilience and trust for generations.

We believe purpose must be matched by proof. Social value is therefore not a standalone initiative or aspiration, but an integrated operational requirement that we are embedding into our contracts, delivery processes and governance. This ensures commitments are clear, measurable and managed with the same rigour as safety, commercial and operational performance.

By doing so, we help customers translate their existing policy intent into defensible, auditable and contract‑managed outcomes - delivering value for communities while reducing delivery, assurance and reputational risk.

What we mean by social value

Social value is the quantified additional social, economic, environmental and cultural benefit we create for society beyond the core goods, services or works being purchased by our customers. 

Social value helps to translate our purpose ‘making infrastructure work for communities’ into practical actions that deliver positive outcomes for people and communities.

At its heart, social value is about using our everyday business activities to create better outcomes for communities, such as local jobs, skills development, First Nations participation, stronger local economies, improved wellbeing and environmental benefits. These outcomes are measured and evidenced to ensure they deliver real and lasting impact. 

For Ventia, this includes outcomes such as:

  • Local jobs, apprenticeships and skills pathways
  • Participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Māori and Pasifika businesses
  • Spend with local, small and social enterprises
  • Fair, inclusive and respectful workplaces

These outcomes are not narrative commitments. They are defined, measured and evidenced, enabling customers to rely on the data for assurance, audit and reporting.

Why social value matters

Public procurement and long‑term asset investment shape workforce participation, supply chains and community outcomes for decades. Increasingly, our customers are expected to demonstrate that:

  • Social and economic objectives are delivered through existing spend
  • Procurement decisions are defensible, comparable and auditable
  • Commitments made at tender stage are enforced through contract delivery
  • Reporting aligns with social procurement, ESG and emerging disclosure frameworks such as TISFD

Ventia’s approach helps customers embed social value within existing procurement and delivery processes, providing a practical way to translate policy intent into measurable commitments, evidence requirements and contract management disciplines.

Our approach

A consistent way to measure and assure outcomes: the Australian TOMs System

Ventia uses the Global TOM (Themes, Outcomes and Measures) System for Australia as the foundation for measuring and reporting social value.

The TOMs System provides:

  • A standardised national framework aligned to existing procurement policies
  • Quantitative proxy values that convert diverse social outcomes into comparable financial terms
  • Apples‑to‑apples comparison of supplier commitments at tender stage, removing subjectivity from evaluation
  • Clear evidence requirements and independent validation during delivery

This enables customers to:

  • Make value‑for‑money decisions that are transparent and defensible
  • Target investment and delivery activity to evidenced community 

The Global TOM System for Australia also aligns with global ESG frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the GRI framework enabling outcomes to be rolled up into enterprise‑level reporting.

Building supply chain capability

Strong outcomes depend on a capable supply chain. Ventia supports suppliers to build the capability needed to help deliver our commitments, and our customers’ commitments, to social value and sustainability more broadly.

This includes using the Supply Chain Sustainability School to help suppliers:

  • Understand where they are today and where capability can be strengthened
  • Prioritise practical actions that support stronger social value and sustainability outcomes
  • Build confidence and consistency in responding to customer, contract and reporting requirements

By making capability visible and actionable, the school helps suppliers focus effort where it matters most and supports stronger delivery outcomes across Ventia’s contracts and customer commitments.

Fairness, Inclusion & Respect (FIR)

Ventia’s approach to social value is underpinned by Fairness, Inclusion & Respect (FIR) - the principles that shape how we work with our people, our suppliers, our customers and our communities.

FIR establishes the behaviours and practices that make social value delivery credible and repeatable. It guides how we recruit, procure, engage and collaborate, ensuring opportunities are fair, participation barriers are reduced, and outcomes are delivered with respect.

Social value is one of the most practical ways we demonstrate FIR externally - through local jobs, local procurement and stronger community outcomes embedded in everyday contract delivery.

Our impact in 2025