Ipswich City Council has announced a new initiative to open up an 18-month pipeline of procurement opportunities for local businesses – launched on the Council’s Transparency and Integrity Hub.
The new initiative means that local businesses can now access an 18-month Forward Procurement Schedule which aims to provide suppliers with advance notice of potential procurement opportunities.
The Schedule will provide a powerful opportunity for the Ipswich business community to connect with the Council and have an insight into selling their goods and services to the organisation.
Mayor Teresa Harding said this was a significant step forward for both Council and local businesses.
“The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are unpredictable and create immense challenges for industry. 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,” Mayor Harding said.
“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.”
One of the challenges facing local businesses is that while they produce and provide certain goods and services, they might not be aware of Ipswich City Council’s requirements and miss a golden opportunity.
Deputy Mayor and Chair of the Economic and Industry Development Committee, Nicole Jonic, said publishing the schedule opens the door to “selling to Council”.
“Council procures $160 million in goods and services each year to deliver services to the community. It makes good economic sense to provide local businesses with advance notice of major opportunities in the pipeline,” Cr Jonic said.
“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.”
Local businesses that are interested in supplying goods and services to Council can register at VendorPanel MarketPlace, Council’s current online platform for its tendering and quotation requirements.
Council’s Foreword Procurement Schedule can be found here.
Council’s Procurement Policy can be found here.
