South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann (Photo: SBRC)

December 19, 2012

South Burnett Regional Council today formally adopted a new purchasing policy which gives preference to suppliers located within the council’s boundaries.

The new policy will give local suppliers a pricing variance of:

  • 10 per cent for goods under $25,000
  • 7.5 per cent for goods from $25,000 to $50,000
  • 5 per cent for goods from $50,000 to $100,000, and
  • 2.5 per cent for goods from $100,000 to $200,000

The policy also stipulates that where South Burnett businesses can supply goods or services required by council, then purchasing staff will be “encouraged” to obtain quotes from local businesses first.

The policy change was first flagged by SBRC Mayor Wayne Kratzmann in October.

He said a study undertaken by council staff found there was as much as $6 million a year extra the council could potentially spend with local businesses if the existing purchasing policy was altered.

Changes to the Local Government Act passed in State Parliament a few weeks later gave Queensland councils the power to give more support to local businesses and jobs if they wished to by placing greater emphasis on one or more of the “five sound contracting principles” when setting selection criteria, including:

  • Developing local business and industry
  • Value for money
  • Open competition
  • Fair dealing and
  • Environmental protection.

Mayor Kratzmann made it clear during this year’s election campaign that he was in favour of local purchasing and said he would try to ensure that South Burnett businesses got a bigger share of the council’s business.

“The simple fact is that our local businesses employ local people, and they make a great contribution to our quality of life in many other ways. So I think they deserve Council’s support in return,” he said.

The new policy was originally expected to be passed at November’s general meeting but had been held over to the December meeting to allow “fine tuning” of the final document.

SBRC councillors supported the change unanimously.

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