Join the Neighbourly Team

• Indigenous and Local Procurement Strategy

  • Develop and implement Indigenous and local procurement strategies clients.

  • Translate project commitments, agreements, regulatory requirements, and community expectations into practical procurement actions and measurable outcomes.

  • Establish procurement objectives, targets, KPIs, reporting frameworks, and accountability mechanisms.

  • Identify opportunities to maximize Indigenous and local participation across the project lifecycle, including construction, operations, maintenance, and closure.

  • Advise project teams on how procurement strategies, contracting approaches, and work packaging can enable or unintentionally create barriers to Indigenous participation.

  • Integrate Indigenous procurement considerations into broader project planning, contracting, scheduling, and supply chain strategies.

  Business Identification and Opportunity Matching

  • Identify and maintain an understanding of Indigenous and local business capacity, capabilities, experience, certifications, equipment, workforce, and areas of interest.

  • Develop and maintain Indigenous and local business directories, supplier databases, capability profiles, and opportunity pipelines.

  • Map upcoming project procurement opportunities against available Indigenous and local business capacity.

  • Identify opportunities for direct contracting, subcontracting, joint ventures, partnerships, mentorship arrangements, and other participation models.

  • Facilitate introductions between Indigenous businesses, procurement teams, prime contractors, and potential partners.

  • Help project teams understand where local capacity already exists rather than defaulting to established external suppliers.

  Procurement Process and Contractor Integration

  • Work directly with procurement and supply chain teams to embed Indigenous participation throughout the procurement lifecycle.

  • Review procurement packages, scopes of work, bid requirements, evaluation criteria, and contracting strategies through an Indigenous participation lens.

  • Identify unnecessary barriers to participation, including contract size, bonding and insurance requirements, prequalification criteria, payment terms, procurement timelines, and administrative requirements.

  • Support the development of appropriately sized and structured work packages where practical.

  • Incorporate Indigenous participation requirements and expectations into RFPs, RFQs, contracts, and contractor management processes.

  • Support bid evaluation processes where Indigenous and local participation forms part of procurement criteria.

  • Work with prime contractors to develop credible Indigenous participation plans and subcontracting strategies.

  • Monitor contractor performance against Indigenous procurement commitments.

  Indigenous Business Readiness and Capacity Building

  • Work directly with Indigenous businesses to help them understand upcoming opportunities, procurement processes, qualification requirements, and project expectations.

  • Identify gaps that may prevent businesses from successfully competing for or delivering project work.

  • Coordinate appropriate business-readiness supports, including procurement navigation, prequalification, safety requirements, insurance, bonding, certifications, bid preparation, and partnership development.

  • Support Indigenous businesses in understanding procurement schedules and positioning themselves early for future opportunities.

  • Identify opportunities for mentorship, joint ventures, partnerships, supplier development, and progressive contracting.

  • Help ensure capacity-building initiatives are connected to real and foreseeable project opportunities, rather than undertaken in isolation.

  Community and Relationship Engagement

  • Build strong relationships with Indigenous communities, economic development corporations, Indigenous-owned businesses, entrepreneurs, leadership, and community economic development teams on behalf of our clients.

  • Engage communities early to understand economic priorities, existing business capacity, desired opportunities, and barriers to participation.

  • Maintain regular communication regarding upcoming procurement opportunities and project needs.

  • Work closely with Indigenous engagement teams to ensure economic participation discussions are coordinated with broader community relationships and commitments.

  • Support procurement information sessions, supplier forums, business workshops, industry days, and one-on-one business meetings.

  • Ensure procurement conversations are transparent about what opportunities exist, when they may become available, and what businesses will need to compete successfully.

  Economic Participation and Benefits

  • Support broader Indigenous and local economic participation strategies, including procurement, employment, training, business development, and partnerships.

  • Identify opportunities to create longer-term economic benefits beyond individual contracts.

  • Support implementation of procurement-related commitments contained within agreements, regulatory approvals, benefit plans, community investment strategies, or Indigenous participation plans.

  • Coordinate with workforce and training initiatives to identify opportunities where local employment and business participation can reinforce one another.

  • Help projects understand and communicate the economic value generated through Indigenous and local participation.

  Measurement, Reporting and Accountability

  • Establish systems for tracking Indigenous and local procurement commitments and outcomes.

  • Track and analyze metrics including Indigenous spend, local spend, contracts awarded, subcontracting, business participation, bid success, workforce participation where relevant, and capacity-building outcomes.

  • Distinguish between committed, contracted, invoiced, and realized spend to provide meaningful reporting.

  • Monitor progress against project targets and identify gaps requiring intervention.

  • Prepare dashboards, reports, regulatory submissions, community updates, and executive briefings.

  • Work with contractors and procurement teams to improve the consistency and quality of Indigenous procurement reporting.

  • Capture lessons learned and recommended improvements throughout the project lifecycle.

• Approximately 8 - 12 years of experience in Indigenous procurement, supply chain, Indigenous economic development, major-project procurement, socioeconomic benefits, or a related field.

• Strong understanding of major-project procurement and contracting processes, from procurement planning and market sounding through solicitation, evaluation, award, contracting, and contractor performance.

• Demonstrated experience working with Indigenous businesses, communities, economic development corporations, or Indigenous partnerships.

• Experience supporting major projects in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, mining, utilities, transportation, construction, or natural resources.

• Strong understanding of the practical barriers Indigenous and smaller local businesses may encounter when competing for major-project work.

• Experience developing or implementing Indigenous procurement strategies, participation plans, supplier-development initiatives, or socioeconomic benefit programs.

• Ability to work effectively with procurement professionals, contractors, project managers, Indigenous communities, and business owners.

• Strong analytical skills and experience developing meaningful procurement metrics and reporting.

• Strong facilitation and relationship-building skills.

• Ability to translate commitments and high-level objectives into practical procurement processes and actions.

• Experience with Indigenous Benefit Agreements, participation agreements, regulatory socioeconomic commitments, or community benefit frameworks is considered an asset.

• Knowledge of Indigenous business certification and verification approaches is considered an asset.

• Client satisfaction: Measured by repeat engagements, client feedback, and relationship strength.

• Project delivery: On-time, on-budget delivery of high-quality work aligned with Neighbourly’s standards.

• Practice leadership: Active mentorship of team members, contributing to a culture of excellence and collaboration.

• Business development: Contribution to revenue growth through client retention, account growth, and proposal success.

• Thought leadership: Representation at industry events, speaking engagements, and knowledge sharing within the firm.

• Cultural fit: Active alignment with Neighbourly’s values of integrity, respect, practical wisdom, and clarity in complexity.

• Integrity in action: We do what’s right, not what’s easy. We show up with honesty, deliver on our word, and hold ourselves accountable to our client commitments.

• Respect for relationship: Trust is earned through time, care, and consistency. We treat every engagement as a relationship, not a transaction.

• Substance over spin: We don’t do fluff. Our solutions are thoughtful, practical, and rooted in what matters to communities and clients. We prioritize real outcomes over polished optics—because impact speaks louder than intention.

• Clarity through complexity: We help untangle the hard stuff, bringing structure, insight and calm to dynamic spaces between industry and community.

• Practical wisdom: Our advice is grounded in real-world experience. We know what works, what doesn’t, and how to bridge the gap between good intentions and better outcomes.

• Be part of a growing team in a start-up environment with real opportunity for impact.

• Work on projects that matter — shaping industry practices and community outcomes.

• Enjoy a flexible, entrepreneurial culture that values integrity and substance over spin.

• Collaborate with a high-performing, supportive team driven by purpose and practical wisdom.

Learn more about Neighbourly here: www.neighbourlyadvisory.ca