Procurement functions don't fail because
the CPO doesn't know what good looks like.
They fail because good is invisible
A specialist procurement group combining advisory, capability diagnostics, spend benchmarking and development. Two decades of Australian procurement experience, one connected model, no handoffs between firms.
Schedule a conversationClients across every sector where procurement performance matters
The founders are in the engagement. Not just on the pitch
When you work with Comprara, you work directly with Benjamin Shute and Milan Panchmatia. Four decades of procurement consulting experience between them, still actively in client work.
Benjamin Shute
Joint CEO
Ben founded Comprara and has spent two decades working across procurement capability, operating model design and strategic advisory in Australia and internationally. Formerly Head of Procurement Practice at CIPS and Head of Sourcing Strategy at Ericsson UK.
Read Ben's articles
Milan Panchmatia
Joint CEO
Milan brings more than 20 years of procurement and management consulting experience across the UK, Europe and Australia. He founded a procurement consultancy acquired by 4C Associates in 2014, where he went on to serve as Managing Partner. His background spans procurement transformation, data analytics, operating model design and commercial improvement.
Read Milan's articlesWhy bigger is not always better in procurement consulting
Large consulting teams look reassuring on a proposal. The senior person who wins the work is rarely the one who does it. Headcount is not the same as judgement.
Comprara is built differently. The founders and senior practitioners stay close to the work. For engagements that require additional depth, Comprara draws on a national network of procurement specialists, analysts and facilitators. Experienced judgement at the centre, with the right specialist support behind it, without the cost or dilution of a large consulting pyramid.
Real outcomes. Real clients. The work that proves the model.
Where clients have permitted us to share detail, we share it. Where engagements are confidential, direct references are available on request.
Australian Venue Co
Category review and cost-out programme across a portfolio of 200+ hospitality venues. Identified structural savings across key spend categories by benchmarking against national and sector comparators.
Queensland Government
Critical Skills Boost Program awarded exclusively to Comprara through competitive tender. Whole-of-government capability programme delivered to over 2,200 procurement professionals across 19 departments over 4 years.
Boral Australia
Appointed to assess and renew Category Management and Governance processes. Created a new Category Management Toolkit then drove the change programme with training, webinars and coaching.
Government of South Australia
Appointed as the exclusive whole-of-government assessment partner for Procurement, Contract Management and Commercial Awareness capability assessments across all agencies.
Cochlear
Appointed as learning and development delivery partner to assess and build procurement capability for both indirect and direct procurement professionals across a global medical device business.
Victorian Dept of Treasury & Finance
Spend analytics delivered across 20 categories over a 3-year engagement, providing the department with an authoritative external data layer to support commercial decisions and budget submissions.
Boral Australia
Category Management and Governance renewal. New toolkit, training programme, webinars and embedded coaching to drive lasting change.
Translink
Agile Contract Management change programme. Redefined process, provided templates and tools, and went live with a new Sharepoint-based contract management site.
Bastow Institute
Navigated the team through the procurement governance framework and provided ongoing support in Market Analysis, Exemptions, RFQ/RFT documents and general procurement advice.
Government of South Australia
Exclusive whole-of-government assessment partner for Procurement, Contract Management and Commercial Awareness capability assessments.
South32
Assessed the Procurement and Contract Management team, visualised capability gaps and delivered a recommendation paper to resolve them.
Northern Territory
Exclusive whole-of-territory assessment partner for every individual involved in procurement or contract management on full-time and part-time basis.
Queensland Government
Critical Skills Boost Program exclusively awarded through competitive tender. Whole-of-government capability programme for 2,200+ people over 4 years.
Cochlear
Global L&D partner for indirect and direct procurement professionals at a leading medical device business.
Melbourne Health
Skills assessment enabled a capability uplift programme, a change to team structure and a reset of the customer value proposition.
Australian Venue Co
Category review and cost-out across 200+ hospitality venues.
Vic Dept of Treasury & Finance
Spend analytics across 20 categories, 3-year engagement providing an authoritative external data layer for commercial decisions.
TAFE NSW
Centralised spend reporting built when TAFE consolidated 170 independent sites into a single entity. Outcomes available on request.
For any engagement listed, Comprara can connect you directly with the person who commissioned the work.
Request a referenceOn the ground where Australian procurement decisions are made - and beyond
Five locations across Australia, the USA and Europe. Senior practitioners in each market, not account managers passing work offshore.
Melbourne
Comprara's founding city and headquarters. Melbourne is home to a deep cluster of ASX-listed, government and not-for-profit organisations where procurement performance has board-level visibility. Our Victorian practice covers state government, health, infrastructure, higher education and the private sector.
Key engagements include the Victorian Department of Treasury & Finance, Melbourne Health / VMIA, Deakin University, Adventist Healthcare and Healius.
Learn about Melbourne practice →Melbourne clients
Sydney
Sydney spans financial services, infrastructure, health and public sector procurement. Our NSW practice has delivered significant engagements across government health agencies, infrastructure departments and large private sector organisations.
Key engagements include NSW Dept of Infrastructure, SW Healthshare, TAFE NSW, Craveable Brands and CSL Limited.
Learn about Sydney practice →Sydney clients
Brisbane
Queensland is where Comprara has delivered some of its most significant government engagements. The Critical Skills Boost Program for 2,200+ procurement professionals across 19 departments was awarded exclusively to Comprara. Our Brisbane practice spans whole-of-government, health infrastructure and transport.
Key engagements include the Queensland Government (Critical Skills Boost), QLD Health Infrastructure and QLD Transport and Main Roads.
Learn about Brisbane practice →Brisbane clients
USA
Comprara's US practice serves large corporates and global organisations requiring structured procurement capability and spend analytics. US engagements typically involve multi-year curriculum development, enterprise-wide capability platforms and complex category management work across high-value supply chains.
Key engagements include ExxonMobil, Alcoa, Owens-Illinois and Elbit Systems — each involving multi-year, enterprise-scale capability programmes.
Learn about USA practice →USA clients
Europe / UK
Comprara's European practice is built on the founders' origins — Benjamin Shute was formerly Head of Procurement Practice at CIPS and Head of Sourcing Strategy at Ericsson UK. European engagements span aerospace, defence, materials and facilities management, and typically involve enterprise-scale procurement transformation or capability programmes.
Key engagements include Airbus, BAE Systems, ISS Facilities and Umicore.
Learn about Europe practice →Europe / UK clients
What most firms will not put in writing
Procurement value has to be visible, not just measured.
A function can measure a great deal and still struggle to explain its commercial contribution to the CFO. The visibility problem is not solved by more detailed reporting. It is solved by connecting the function's performance to the evidence the executive team actually trusts.
A maturity assessment should create a business case, not a document.
Done properly, a maturity assessment gives a procurement leader the evidence to make decisions, prioritise investment and explain the case for change. That is the difference between asking the CFO for resources and showing why the investment is justified.
Procurement influence is built early, or not at all.
Effective procurement functions are in the room when scope is being set, demand is being challenged, and commercial options are being tested. Influence is not granted by policy. It is earned by being useful before you are required.
Organisations that piece together procurement improvement from different providers find that each one sees a fragment. None see the whole
Comprara connects these four capabilities in a single, integrated model. The diagnostic informs the development pathway. The benchmarking data sharpens the strategy.
SkillsGAP Analysis
The diagnostic before everything else
A proprietary capability assessment methodology validated across more than 80,000 individual assessments globally. Maps capability by person, by competency, by category and by team.
Purchasing Index
The external frame internal data cannot provide
Twenty years of Australian spend benchmarking data. Internal reporting shows what an organisation has done. It cannot show whether that performance is competitive.
Academy of Procurement
Development that closes the actual gaps
Structured capability development from foundational through to advanced commercial and strategic skills, directly linked to the SkillsGAP diagnostic. Development targets the gaps that exist inside the function.
Advisory
The layer that connects data, capability and the board
Operating model design, governance frameworks, maturity assessment, transformation planning, sourcing strategy and stakeholder engagement. A practical path forward that the CFO will fund.
Clients typically come to Comprara when informal improvement is no longer enough
The function has reached a point where the evidence base matters as much as the intent.
A procurement function inherited where every conversation reveals a new gap. The scale of the problem keeps growing.
The team is not yet equipped to execute the plan. Hiring out of the problem is not realistic.
The CFO wants evidence that does not yet exist, or does not trust data that is entirely internally generated.
Excluded from commercial decisions early, brought in only when the contract needs signing.
Investment was made in a platform. Operating model, governance and capability have not kept pace with it.
Before asking for funding, restructuring the function or launching a broader programme, the right evidence base has to be established.
Need more procurement firepower, without adding headcount?
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Comprara Pty Ltd
- ABN: 57 642 065 594
- Level 6, 365 Lt Collins Street,
Melbourne, Victoria 3000
Australia - Tel: +61 3 8547 3940
Comprara acknowledges the traditional Aboriginal owners of country, recognises their continuing connection to land, water and community and pays respect to Elders past, present and future.
