Procurement Update - March 2016
Bitumen Reseal & Register of Pre-Qualified Suppliers
Some of you may have spotted the advert in the Cairns Post over the weekend for the 16/17 Bitumen Reseal & Register of Pre-Qualified Suppliers. As well as the advert, participating Councils will also be placing the ad on their websites and we have also spoken directly to suppliers who have previously shown an interest in the arrangement to notify them of the tender.
In addition to the Bitumen Reseal arrangement, we will also be establishing a Register of Pre-Qualified Suppliers for the provision of other bitumen and asphalt resurfacing works.
A tender briefing took place at Cairns Regional Council on Monday 11th April which was attended by representatives from participating Councils. Whilst attendance is not compulsory, it is a great opportunity to provide suppliers with details of the arrangement and for them to ask questions or seek clarification of any particular aspects of the tender. The briefing was also attended by the Program Coordinator. The Coordinator’s role is to work both with participating Councils and the Contractor to ensure the effective and timely delivery of the program and adherence to the Bitumen Reseal contract terms. Following a recent Request for Quote, Gerard Read of GWR Civil Engineering Management has been reappointed to the role.
The tender will close on 29th April 2016 with tender evaluation taking place in May 2016.
Disposal & Beneficial Reuse of Biosolids
You may recall that the Biosolids Sub-Committee was formed recently to explore ways in which we can work collaboratively in Biosolids disposal to achieve better outcomes for member Councils. Following our first meeting I have been busy speaking to the market which has seen discussions taking place with a number of organisations in order to understand the barriers to entry in our region and potential opportunities. The information and insights gleaned from these conversations will be fed back to the committee which will hopefully help inform decisions regarding the next steps.
Water Chemicals
I am pleased to confirm that all participating Councils recently agreed to extend the current Supply & Delivery of Sodium Hypochlorite and the Supply & Delivery of Liquid Alum contracts for a final 12 months. However, with no further extensions available, attention will soon need to turn to Council requirements at the end of the contracts in April and May next year. Meetings with the Regional Water Treatment Technical committee will therefore resume shortly in order to discuss and progress.
North Queensland Social Procurement Forum & Market Day Forum
Cairns Chamber of Commerce coordinated the North Queensland Social Procurement Forum & Market Day on behalf of Queensland Government Procurement at the Cairns Convention Centre on 10 March 2016, forging connections between government and industry and to foster a shared understanding of social procurement.
The event, which followed a similar event in Brisbane, was attended by both local and state government, industry and social and disability enterprises and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses in the Northern Queensland region. The event was an opportunity to foster a shared understanding of socially responsible procurement and highlighted the opportunities to strengthen relationships between buyers and suppliers, to better understand the challenges and opportunities on both sides, and explore ways to both state and local government can further integrate social opportunities into the way goods and services are bought and managed.
Speakers included Mark Daniels, Head of Market & Sector Development, Social Traders who explained the significance of integrating the achievement of social and economic outcomes into procurement and Peter Morichovitis, Chief Procurement Officer for Gold Coast City Council who provided great insight into what Social Procurement means to Gold Coast City Council together with some great examples of what they have achieved using Social Procurement. Neil Willmett, Executive Director, Aboriginal and Torres Trait Islander Stratgey Unit, Department of Housing & Public Works also spoke about the benefits of social procurement and supplier diversity, addressing the perceived risks and highlighting the reasons why Government is committed to social procurement.
It was indeed a very interesting and insightful day and it certainly made me personally rethink some of my own preconceptions regarding the role of social procurement. Collectively, State and Local government spend $24bn annually in procurement and with this spend provides the opportunity to not only deliver high quality, value for money goods, services and works and cost savings but also the power to influence, enable and stimulate the private and social enterprise markets to deliver social, economic and sustainability outcomes – certainly food for thought.
If you would like to find out more please follow the link below to access the presentations and various other resources and guides.
http://www.hpw.qld.gov.au/Procurement/Pages/MarketDay.aspx
Neil Willmett, Executive Director, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy Unit, Dept of Housing & Public Works delivers key government messages regarding Social Procurement.
Department of Infrastructure, Local Government & Planning (DILGP) - Review of Local Government Regs, Chapter 6
Many of you will be aware that LGAQ recently issued an LG Online alert regarding a review of the Local Government Contracting Provisions in Chapter 6 of the Local Government Regulation 2012.
I attended a workshop facilitated by Local Buy in Brisbane on 14 March which took place just prior to the Local Buy conference. The workshop was facilitated by Adam Ozdowski, In-House Counsel for Local Buy and was attended by Stephen Bohnen from LGAQ, Bronwyn Blagoev and Elizabeth Kenny from DILGP and representatives from a number of Councils. I am pleased to advise that our region was well-represented with attendance not only from FNQROC but also Cairns Regional Council, Cassowary Coast Regional Council and Douglas Shire Council.
The workshop focused initially on the Sound Contracting Principles set down in the Act itself where suggested amendments included reference to ethical sourcing and social good in keeping with the push from Queensland Government. There was also discussion regarding the definition of local although caution was advised regarding seeking exact definitions as this can narrow scope – better to read everything in accordance with the intent behind the principles. Attention was then turned to the Regulations where key topics for discussion included financial values relating to medium/large sized contractual arrangements, the tender process, approved contractor list, register of pre-qualified suppliers, and exceptions. I have put together a brief summary of the points discussed which has been sent to members of the Procurement Technical Committee and which is also available upon request.
DILGP will consider the feedback and the next step will depend on whether amendments are suggested to the Act itself or the Regulations only. Further information will follow in due course.
Adam Oxdowski requested that any further submissions be sent to Stephen Bohnen, Principle Advisor – Intergovernmental Relations at LGAQ. Alternatively, please feel free to email me at and I will be happy to forward on your behalf.
Local Buy Government Procurement & Fleet Conference
The Local Buy Government Procurement & Fleet Conference took place at the Royal International Convention & Exhibition Centre from 14th – 16th March.
The Conference was opened by Mr Frankie Carroll, Director General, Department of Infrastructure, Local
Government and Planning. His opening speech included reference to the review of the current grants program and Chapter 6 Contracting provisions. He also spoke about the State Infrastructure plan and forthcoming Councils elections.
We then heard from Key Note speaker, Naomi Simson of RedBalloon or perhaps more notably Network Ten’s Shark Tank. The main take away I got from this session was reinforcement of something I think we already know here at FNQROC – the power of alignment. Naomi said - ‘harness what is possible with others by alignment’ – it is very powerful. Here here!
Some further presentations from Day 1 included:
- Debra Stolz of the QAO - presentation regarding the Fraud Management in Local Government. A representative from the Crime & Corruption Commission also delivered a presentation regarding their top 5 ‘issues’ and examples - available on the LGAQ website.
- Mark Scales from Crowe Horforth – presentation on ‘Social Engineering’ or using knowledge of people to get a desired outcome i.e. manipulation using psychological, physiological and technological apects in order to secure information, trade secrets, commercial in confidence information etc. Mark emphasised the importance of password protection and management and the importance of securing social footprints. Mark recommended that social engineering risks be included in internal audit plans.
- Asset Management by Cardo- presentation covered current challenges and how to achieve value through better understanding assets included functionaility, demand/utilisation, performance, costs, risk etc. The need to deliver infrastructure cost effectively both new and renewals – right cost, right capacity, right time, right location, rich quality etc.
The gala dinner in the evening which was a great opportunity to network and we were treated to Tim Rose, CEO Local Buy playing the electric guitar …..
Day 2 included a presentation by Rob Hollan of ArcBlue who provided information regarding procurement analytics and dashboards and the provision of data in a way that is meaningful and easy to understand. Other sessions on Day 2 included:
- Panel Discussion – ‘Councils who have helped their communities through procurement’ during which Angelo Finocchiaro of Cairns Regional Council spoke about their City Centre Alive project which involved local spend and youth and indigenous employment opportunities together with engagement with local suppliers and community groups.
- Lou Boyle, Innovation Executive from LGAQ – presentation titled Smart Cities. Lou talked about the need for Local Government to innovate and the nexus of forces driving change which he listed as the cloud, mobile computing, information and social media and the internet of ‘things’ ie ‘smart’ street lighting, bins, roads, cars – just about everything.
- Clinton Park from LGIS - presentation regarding Drones. Clinton advised that LGIS have been conducting extensive research into the use of Drone or RPA’s (Remote Piloted Aircraft) in Local Government and they strongly recommend the contracting of RPA services as opposed to the purchase of an RPA by individual Councils due to a number of inherent risks. LGIS will apparently be developing a tailored RPA solution which will combine procurement, contractor coordination, specification standards, quality assurance market and data management.
Amongst other presentations, there was also a session on successful Specification Writing and a presentation from Tom Upton, CEO of Winton Shire Council who shared his Council’s story regarding harnessing geothermal technology.
If you would like to see any of the presentations or would like any additional information regarding the conference please email .
Naomi Simson, of RedBalloon and Network 10 ‘Shark Tank’, the key note speaker at the Local Buy Conference
The Trade Booths at the Local Buy Conference
Our very own Lloyd Nunns, Chief Procurement Officer of Douglas Shire Council involved in a theoretical procurement project requiring Lloyd to play the role of Manager of a Planning, Development & Assessment of a fictitious Council who, you might say was pretty keen to get things done, and fast! Next stop the Oscars Lloyd!