Forward Procurement Schedule: New Ipswich council scheme to help local businesses secure contracts

Businesses will now get an early heads-up on the schedule of projects for the city, as part of a campaign to make it easier for them to secure lucrative contracts.

A photo of the redevelopment of the Ipswich mall in 2019.

A new initiative has been launched by Ipswich City Council, which is designed to make it easier for local businesses to ‘sell themselves’ to the $532 million organisation by providing an advanced 18-month schedule of projects.

The Forward Procurement Schedule is now available on the council’s online Transparency and Integrity Hub.

The council, which included $156 million for capital works in the 2021-22 budget handed down in June, says it will make it easier for businesses based in the city to set themselves up to secure potential procurement opportunities.

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said the Forward Procurement Schedule initiative will make it easier for local business to secure council contracts. Photo: Adam Sekli Photography

“The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are unpredictable and create immense challenges for industry,” Mayor Teresa Harding said.

“By publishing our Forward Procurement Schedule, which is essentially council’s order book for the next 18 months, it allows council to provide some certainty and additional opportunities to our local businesses.

“Council has had significant success with the introduction of its Buy Ipswich approach which has already seen $54 million spent with local suppliers with a head or branch office in the Ipswich area in the past financial year.

“The launch of the Forward Procurement Schedule will help local businesses better prepare to respond to council procurement opportunities and make it easier for council to connect with local suppliers.”

An aerial view of Ipswich CBD, where the council is spending $250 million to bring people back to the city centre.

The council said local businesses may be missing golden opportunities by not applying for tenders to provide exactly the goods and services they provide.

They are being encouraged to get a head start and sign up to the council’s online platform for its tendering and quotation requirements VendorPanel Marketplace.

The council’s Buy Ipswich initiative only seeks quotes from local businesses in the first instance for contracts with a value of less than $50,000.

It also provides 20 per cent ‘local content preferential weighting’ when assessing applications for contracts less than $200,000 and a 15 per cent weighting for contracts worth more than $200,000.

Deputy Mayor Nicole Jonic said the council procures $160 million in goods and services a year. Picture: Cordell Richardson

“Council procures $160 million in goods and services each year to deliver services to the community,” Deputy Mayor and Economic and Industry Development Committee chair Nicole Jonic said.

“It makes good economic sense to provide local businesses with advance notice of major opportunities in the pipeline.

“The Forward Procurement Schedule articulates these potential procurement opportunities.

“The scope, scale, schedule and complexity of individual planned procurements is listed across various procurement categories such as goods and services, information and communication technologies, building, construction and maintenance and fleet.”

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Originally published as Forward Procurement Schedule: New Ipswich council scheme to help local businesses secure contracts