Students graduate from 2026 HSV Certificate IV Procurement course

The first two student cohorts in the 2026 HSV Certificate IV in Procurement and Contracting course have graduated, with two more student groups poised to complete the course before 30 June.

The Certificate IV in Procurement and Contracting course has been running since August 2022. Students are taught essential skills in health services procurement, aligning with HSV’s Purchasing Policies. 

The highly popular course has seen 151 students graduate to date, and places have been filling up within hours of release. This year a record 57 students from 37 mandated health services enrolled across the 4 cohorts, including 17 from metropolitan health services and 33 representing regional health services. 48 places were subsidised by HSV with the remaining filled by students from eligible health services and a small group of mandated health service participants who self-funded after available subsidised places were filled.

Benalla Health Executive Director Finance and Corporate Services Mewan Dissanayake attended the course and appreciated its wide scope.

“It was good to learn more about compliance with government procurement policies and understand the context behind required actions. The course was very comprehensive – it covered the legal and Commonwealth framework we operate in, probity, ethics, risk management and the documentation required,” Mewan says.

“The course will be particularly helpful when completing requests for tender and tender evaluations. It helped me clarify some questions I have encountered in my day-to-day procurement journey.

“I also really appreciated that the course was subsidised for mandated health services. Especially in a small regional hospital where you don’t have full procurement or legal teams, having a few people doing this course is value for money,” Mewan says.

Supply Chain Manager at The Royal Children's Hospital, Manesh Govind is in one of the cohorts that will complete the course at the end of June.

“Although I am not directly involved in procurement activity I work quite closely with the procurement team and on their projects so I still need to know the context, policies and terminology so I can work collaboratively with my peers and colleagues. The course will help me integrate a bit better into procurement discussions,” Manesh says.

Both Manesh and Mewan praised the format and presentation of the course.

“I enjoyed the breakout sessions and being able to talk with my breakout group of 4. The small groups enabled more direct discussions about our tasks and the group project. The facilitator covered examples that were relevant to the industry and focused on procurement in hospitals, and we were able to use templates and examples from real-life experience rather than the content being conceptual only,” Manesh says.

The course is nationally accredited and recognised across Australia.

“HSV congratulates the graduating students of the 2026 HSV Certificate IV in Procurement and Contracting course,” says Chief Procurement Officer Sarah Bryant.

“The Victorian public health service employees who completed the course now have additional confidence and capabilities to achieve cost benefits through procurement while also understanding the extensive legislative requirements that health services must comply with.

“These students have finished the course with a genuine qualification and skills that can be applied across the health sector and beyond,” Sarah says.