Bundaberg builders unaware of Moore Park project tenders

Bundaberg builders say they had no idea they could tender for Moore Park Beach projects.

Despite council saying it is ‘disappointing’ contractors haven’t come forward to tender for key projects, local builders said they were unaware the projects were available for tender.

Bundaberg builders were not aware of tenders for projects to develop Moore Park, despite the council saying it had been “doing all it can” to progress the projects committed to at the last election.

Bundaberg Regional Council released a statement on Friday, September 22 calling for contractors to apply to build the first stage of the Moore Park Beach Masterplan.

The projects, a key aspect of Division 1 councillor Jason Bartel’s 2020 re-election platform, include a Moore Park Beach Community Hub, men’s shed, community storage sheds and space for a second hand shop for the Moore Park Beach Community Association.

Mayor Jack Dempsey said two calls for tender since 2022 had been unsuccessful, which he said was due to a “buoyant construction industry”.

“We’ve been unsuccessful on both occasions – which is reflective of the buoyant construction industry at the moment – but also disappointing for our community to see such an important project stall,” Mr Dempsey said.

“Council is doing all it can to progress the Moore Park Beach Masterplan. We’d like to build it, but we need contractors to come forward.”

Burnett Wide Bay regional manager of Master Builders Queensland Ian Langer said while the local builders were in high demand, the main reason for builders not applying for the tenders was a lack of awareness that they were there to be applied for.

After canvassing six local commercial building firms on Friday, Mr Langer received responses from three builders who said they were not aware the Moore Park projects were available for tender.

The projects include a Moore Park Beach Community Hub, men’s shed, community storage sheds and space for a second hand shop for the Moore Park Beach Community Association.

“There’s a lot of demand for building services, but the commercial space is a different space than the residential space,’ Mr Langer said.

“Most of the commercial builders in Bundaberg I spoke to didn‘t know the tenders for the Moore Park Beach projects were available.

“Two builders were not aware that the tenders were available, and one was only informed about the projects by another supplier on Thursday, September 21.

“An expectation from builders is that if already registered for council contracts, they will be informed about new tender opportunities as they become available, rather than needing to seek out the information themselves.”

Another common theme among the builders with whom Mr Langer approached about the tenders was a wariness of engaging in council contracts due to the extensive administrative processes around demonstrating compliance for the contracts.

“A common theme in responses from the builders was the compliance burden of going for local government projects is so high that if there are other options available, they’ll tend to go that way,” he said.

The Moore Park Beach community buildings tender had been added to VendorPanel, council’s e-tender platform, with a closing date of October 31, 2023.

When asked if the previous two tenders had been made available on the same platform, a Bundaberg Regional Council spokesperson said “they followed council’s normal tender processes in line with legislation”.