Working together to support safe, thriving school communities
At Brisbane Catholic Education we seek to build strong, collaborative relationships with our suppliers, and we are committed to fostering relationships with businesses who share our values and our commitment to sustainable, ethical and legal business practices.
At BCE, safeguarding our students and communities is at the centre of everything we do. Our verification and onboarding processes are designed to support this, to ensure our partners meet clear and consistent minimum requirements.
Why partner with BCE?
With more than 140 schools across South East Queensland, BCE offers a significant opportunity for businesses to deliver goods and services at scale. Becoming a verified supplier makes it easier for our schools and teams to identify and engage with your business.
As a verified BCE supplier, you’ll benefit from:
- a consistent and streamlined process for working with schools and central teams
- recognition as a trusted, verified supplier across our system
- the ability to manage your information securely
- clear expectations and support throughout your engagement.
We value strong partnerships with suppliers who share our commitment to safeguarding, safety, quality and integrity.
Getting started with BCE
Becoming a BCE supplier involves three steps. Please scroll down for more detailed information.
BCE uses Felix to verify suppliers before they can do business with us. This process ensures suppliers meet our minimum requirements. Information you may be asked to provide includes:
- Business and organisational information
- Safeguarding (Child Safe Entity)
- Insurance (Public Liability $20 million)
- Modern slavery compliance
- Digital and cyber security
- Work health and safety (WHS)
- Other requirements relevant to the services provided
You will be notified of your verification outcome. Once verified, you can proceed to register in our Buying Platform to begin transacting with BCE.
BCE uses the Buying Platform (Unimarket) to manage purchasing across all schools and operating units. Suppliers are invited to register through a simple identification and onboarding process.
To enable BCE to pay you for your services, you must complete bank account verification through EftSure. This process securely confirms your banking details and helps protect against payment fraud.
Bank account verification must be completed before any payments can be made.
Once this step is finished and your registration is complete, you will be onboarded and BCE schools and teams can begin transacting with you through the Buying Platform.
What happens once you are verified?
You will be invited by BCE to onboard in the Buying Platform and you may begin supplying goods or services.
What happens next
- You may receive purchase orders
- Access to supplier support resources
- Update your details anytime. Remember to update Unimarket and Felix.
- Update certificates and registrations as required
Resources
Support and assistance
Reach out to the Procurement and Contracts team at any time at SupplierOnboarding@bne.catholic.edu.au
Steps to becoming a BCE Supplier
What you need to do
Use the link emailed to you to commence the verification process in Felix.
What you’ll provide
- Business categories (goods/services you offer)
- ABN/ACN
- Registered business name & address
- Contact person details
- Responses to key BCE questions for verification purposes relating to:
- Safeguarding
- Modern Slavery
- Data and Cyber Security
- Workplace, Health and Safety
- Insurance documents
- Acceptance of Code of Conduct
If verified, you will be invited to the next step for verification and onboarding.
What registration means
This step enables registration in the Buying Platform to facilitate transacting with all schools within BCE.
What you need to do:
- provide organisation and supplier information
- banking details for payment submitted and then verified with EftSure bank verification.
You will receive confirmation once complete.
As part of becoming a verified supplier, you will complete a simple two step EftSure process to confirm your business and banking details.
What you need to do
- Email invitation
You will receive an email from EftSure with options to verify your bank details
- Verify Bank Details by either:
- Selecting online verification tool
Select your financial institution, add bank details and obtain quick verification. Eftsure does not retain any login details when selecting this step
- Follow up phone call
After you submit the form, an Eftsure verification analyst will contact you directly to confirm your details. During this call, they will complete a two way check of your bank account name, BSB and account number to ensure everything is correct. You can ask them to confirm the 4 digit reference number linked to your form for added security.
This process protects suppliers against payment fraud and ensures all payments are made securely to the correct account.
As part of our commitment to ethical sourcing and safeguarding people in our supply chain, some suppliers may also need to complete one or both of the following assessments:
SEDEX Verification
SEDEX is a global ethical supply chain platform. You may be asked to:
- join SEDEX as a supplier member
- complete a SEDEX Self-Assessment Questionnaire
- provide a SMETA audit (if available).
This helps us assess labour standards, health and safety, environmental practices, and business ethics.
ACAN Supplier Survey
As part of compliance with Australia’s Modern Slavery Act, suppliers working with Catholic organisations may also be required to:
- complete the ACAN Supplier Survey
- complete a short ACAN Modern Slavery e-learning module
- provide supporting documentation if requested.
These steps help identify and address potential modern slavery risks in high risk supply chains.