Small businesses want fair go on government tenders

A TOOWOOMBA small business has urged the State Government to give greater preference to Queensland-based companies applying for tenders.

Toowoomba national online medical business MEDrefer director Brian Sullivan talks business confidence, Friday, August 9, 2019. Picture: Kevin Farmer

A TOOWOOMBA small business has urged the State Government to give greater preference to Queensland-based companies applying for tenders.

Long-standing businessman Brian Sullivan, whose online-database business MEDrefer helps track patients getting referred from GPs to private and public specialists, said he had twice lost tenders to New Zealand companies in recent years.

It comes as Toowoomba and south-west Queensland businesses revealed they were less optimistic about the national economy than the state average in the latest pulse survey by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland.

The survey, released today, also showed south-west businesses were more pessimistic than the rest of the state when looking at the Queensland economy.

Mr Sullivan said he still had enormous confidence in Toowoomba regional economy, based on its liveability, quality infrastructure and solid private investment.

"Now that we've got the airport, we can move in and out of Toowoomba so that's reduced the necessity to be based elsewhere," he said.

"We're also an online company, so we can be anywhere.

"I wouldn't want to be living anywhere else.

"When times change, Toowoomba is destined to be a major hub, because we're in the middle of cotton, beef, dairy, and everything else."

But he said the Queensland Government could afford to be friendly to small business by cutting red tape.

"The situation is that it's very frustrating for a Queensland company to tender and seek business from the Queensland government and then lose out to a New Zealand competitor, and at a high price," he said.

"It's frustrating that a lot of the tenders don't seem to be focused towards Queensland suppliers - they miss out a lot.

"When we tendered for a Queensland Health item two years ago, they put in so many compliance issues, in terms of we have to be integrated with this and had to be integrated with that, that we had to know whether we would get the tender or not just to be able to apply.

"Somebody else got it at something like $6-7 million, when we would have gone in at around $2m."

The pulse survey showed business confidence across Queensland stood at 43.5 points for the June quarter.

CCIQ advocacy general manager Amanda Rohan said while there was a marginal improvement in overall confidence, businesses in regional areas wanted more from policy makers.

"The solutions to improving sentiment involve clearly articulated policy initiatives, a greater coordination of government at all levels working together and the encouragement private sector projects," she said.

"Frustration at the pace of economic growth has been a consistent theme for the small business sector over the last three years."

Originally published as Small businesses want fair go on government tenders