Major Projects Skills Guarantee: A Reporting Guide for Victorian Construction Projects
The Major Projects Skills Guarantee requires apprentices, trainees and cadets to perform at least 10% of the estimated hours on Victorian Government construction projects of $20 million or more. Who it applies to, which hours count, what is reported through the VMC, and what changed in 2026.
The Short Answer
The Major Projects Skills Guarantee (MPSG) is part of Victoria's Local Jobs First policy. On Victorian Government construction projects with a budget of $20 million or more, and on all Strategic Projects, apprentices, trainees and cadets must perform a minimum of 10% of the total estimated hours of work on the project. Suppliers report the hours worked by each apprentice, trainee and cadet every six months through the Victorian Management Centre (VMC), and submit a completion report within 90 days of practical completion.
This guide covers what the MPSG requires, who it applies to, which hours count, what reporting looks like and what changed in 2026. Every policy fact comes from the Local Jobs First Act 2003 or the official Local Jobs First guidance, linked in the sources at the end. Always check the current guidelines and your contract.
What Is the Major Projects Skills Guarantee?
The Local Jobs First Act 2003 describes the MPSG as a policy that provides job opportunities for apprentices, trainees and cadets on high value construction projects. The Local Jobs First Policy is made up of two parts: the Victorian Industry Participation Policy and the Major Projects Skills Guarantee. The Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions administers the Act, and the Local Jobs First Commissioner can take enforcement action in relation to breaches.
Who Does the MPSG Apply To?
Under section 7C of the Act, the MPSG applies to:
- Standard projects that are construction projects with a budget of $20 million or more
- Strategic projects that are construction projects (a Strategic Project is one with a budget of $50 million or more, or one the Minister declares)
The $20 million threshold is the same in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. It applies to the total project value and covers all subcontracting under the principal contract, according to the MPSG guidance for agencies. In practice that means trade partner hours count towards the target and trade partner apprentices need to be reported.
The MPSG Target
The Act requires apprentices, trainees or cadets to be engaged for a minimum of 10% of the total number of estimated hours of work on the project. The Supplier Guidelines describe this as at least 10% of project labour hours using Victorian apprentices, trainees and cadets. There are no sub-targets: the MPSG does not prescribe how the 10% is split between apprentices, trainees and cadets.
The base for the 10% is the total project labour hours the bidder provides in its Local Industry Development Plan (LIDP). Since 31 January 2023 bidders no longer have to use the Deemed Hours Formula to estimate those hours.
Which Hours Count Towards the MPSG?
The Local Jobs First Supplier Guidelines (July 2026) set out what counts:
- Only hours spent working on the applicable project
- Off-site work by trade partner apprentices, trainees and cadets on the project
- Training contact hours only while the person is concurrently working on the project
- Apprentices and trainees on a course related to their role and registered with the Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority or the national VET regulator
- Cadets enrolled in Australian tertiary education, with architecture, quantity surveying and engineering cadets given as examples
Professional traineeships cannot count towards the MPSG.
What Does MPSG Reporting Look Like?
- At tender: the LIDP sets out total project labour hours and the MPSG commitment, and 5 percentage points of the evaluation are allocated to MPSG-specific outcomes
- During delivery: suppliers report every six months to the agency through the VMC, including the number of labour hours performed by each individual apprentice, trainee and cadet on the project
- At completion: a completion report is due no more than 90 days after practical completion
The six-monthly reporting periods are set out on the Local Jobs First reporting obligations page. Because the report is at the level of each individual, the data has to be collected per worker from every trade partner, not as a single total.
What Happens If a Supplier Falls Short?
The 2025 amendments to the Act strengthened compliance. Agencies must, unless it is impracticable or inappropriate, make their liability to pay contingent on compliance. The Commissioner can issue a deprioritisation notice when a supplier does not submit its completion report within 90 days or fails to comply with a commitment in its LIDP. For tenders released on or after 1 July 2026, the Supplier Guidelines say a supplier may be deprioritised for a period of 6 to 18 months, with a tender evaluation deduction of between 5% and 20%.
What Changed Recently?
A new MPSG Policy Statement was issued on 10 October 2022, and the Deemed Hours Formula became optional on 31 January 2023. The Local Jobs First Amendment Bill 2025 received Royal Assent on 19 August 2025, with reforms commencing in stages up to 1 July 2026, when a new Policy, Supplier Guidelines and Agency Guidelines took effect. The policy updates page lists the transitional arrangements for projects already in delivery.
How to Set Up MPSG Reporting on a Project
- Lock in the LIDP labour hours estimate at award, because it is the base for the 10% target
- Write apprentice, trainee and cadet reporting into every trade package, since trade partner hours count
- Collect hours per individual monthly, with training contract or enrolment evidence attached
- Exclude hours that do not count, such as training not concurrent with work on the project, before they reach a report
- Track progress against 10% from the first month, so recruitment can respond before the six-monthly report
- Plan the completion report from day one, because the 90-day deadline now carries deprioritisation risk
How Catchment Helps With MPSG Reporting
In Catchment, apprentice, trainee and cadet hours are captured as participation hours against workforce targets. Trade partners submit hours per worker each month for free, with evidence attached, and the project team sees progress against the 10% target across every package. When the six-monthly VMC report or the completion report is due, the figures are already collected, checked and traceable to source.
Most Victorian projects that carry the MPSG also carry the Building Equality Policy and Social Procurement Framework commitments, so the same worker-level hours can serve all three.
To see how your MPSG target would be set up, book a demo.
Sources
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