LNP announces plan to overhaul government tender process
LNP will today announce its plan to overhaul the government’s tender process to help Queensland small operators compete for millions of dollars of business.
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The LNP will today announce a total overhaul of the government procurement process, opening up millions of dollars of business for the state’s small operators.
It’s understood the plan, to be announced by LNP Leader Deb Frecklington, will carve up large tenders into smaller procurements that would allow multiple businesses to compete to fill parts of an order.
The plan comes as the need to support local business and growing Queensland’s manufacturing industry in the wake of the COVID pandemic becomes a real flashpoint this election campaign.
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The plan would make the government a “foundation customer” that could act as an anchor to Queensland businesses.
Ms Frecklington said the plan would help businesses like the Dalby Biofuels refinery, which was forced to close after it was unable to secure a tender to provide hand sanitiser to the government.
She said a Frecklington Government would work with the refinery to reopen and create 110 direct jobs onsite, support Queensland farmers and expand Queensland’s manufacturing capability.
She said the “proud Queensland business” had been “utterly betrayed by Labor”, whose contract decision had cost 110 Queenslanders their jobs.
“This local business stepped up when we needed to stop coronavirus only to be snubbed by Labor,” Ms Frecklington said.
“Queensland’s largest ethanol producer has folded because the Labor government chose to buy from foreign companies instead.”
Business groups have nominated an overhauling of the tender process as a top priority for both major parties this election.
The CCIQ has called for a reduction in the costs and complexity of the tender process so that small business can genuinely compete for an expected $4 billion in small business government contracts over the next year.
It wants the next government to commit to breaking up tenders for small business and develop a whole-of-government dashboard for the pipelines of projects coming up so that businesses can play to apply.
With manufacturing a key priority this campaign, Labor this week committed $600 million to build 20 trains in Maryborough – a seat it holds by a 2.46 per cent margin.
Last week the LNP announced $493 million over four years to slash the electricity bills of Queensland manufacturing businesses by about 20 per cent to try to create 20,000 new jobs.
Originally published as LNP announces plan to overhaul government tender process