Message to the OCTEC Team – March 2018
I’m writing to you at a historic moment in life of our organisation. At the threshold of a time of unprecedented growth. Many of you will already know that OCTEC Employment Service is expanding but not know the full extent and scope of that growth.
I’d like to take a moment to outline the background to what will be happening over the next three months and formally congratulate all involved in the 2017 DES Grant Application.
As a result of consistent and outstanding program performance in Disability Employment Services, we received notification from the Commonwealth Department of Social Services in August 2017 that OCTEC would continue to deliver DES in all 18 of our current Employment Services Areas. This was achieved without the need to tender for those services.
This business rollover was important for two major reasons. Firstly, it provided certainty for all our DES staff that they would be able to continue their outstanding work assisting people with injury, illness or disability to secure and maintain meaningful employment.
Secondly, it allowed our tender team to concentrate their efforts on securing contracts for OCTEC in new Employment Services Regions. And in this regard, OCTEC performed magnificently. From July 2018, our Disability Employment Services will quadruple in size, expanding our geographic reach into Queensland and regional Victoria, with major expansion in metropolitan Melbourne and Sydney.
This result means that from July 1st, OCTEC will become Australia’s largest Not-for-Profit Organisation DES provider in the country, delivering DES services across NSW, ACT, Victoria and Queensland. We will hold 110 contracts (ESS and DMS) with more than double the current number of sites.
This is a shining example of the respect with which OCTEC is held in government, as well as the outstanding work of our managers and staff. And yes that relates principally to the managers and staff of OCTEC Employment Service and I would like to acknowledge the contribution of Chris Clark and Adam Swist in delivering such a strong DES outcome for OCTEC. Our reputation with the funding bodies and in the communities in which we work is based on everything we do, on every program we deliver.
Congratulations to our CEO Andrew McDougall, and every member the OCTEC Team for delivering on this expansion to our community business.
The next three months will be particularly busy as we set up new sites, recruit new teams and prepare to deliver our high quality services in a diversity of communities in which we have never delivered before. It is a brave new world for OCTEC but one that offers exciting opportunities.
On behalf of OCTEC’s Board, I’d like to thank you again for your efforts in bringing OCTEC to this point, and for the many and varied contributions you will all make over the next three months, three years and beyond.
Jeff Whitton
OCTEC Chairman