November 10, 2025
South Burnett Regional Council announced upgrades to its online supplier platforms at the Kingaroy Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s recent meet’n’greet.
SBRC Strategic Procurement Co-ordinator Louise Reidy explained the differences between Council’s “pre-qualified” and “preferred” vendor supplier programs.
She said “pre-qualified” suppliers were a list of companies which had been assessed by Council under Section 232 of the Local Government Regulation to have the capacity to undertake works.
They are listed under a “standing offer” arrangement but it does not mean they are guaranteed work; but it means Council can award them a contract without going to a public tender.
A “preferred” supplier, under Section 233 of the Local Government Regulation, does have a guarantee of engagement by Council.
She said Council’s e-procurement platforms had recently been changed from Felix to VendorPanel.
The pre-qualified supplier panels cover dry hire, wet hire, road-making quarry materials, civil works, trade services, electrical works and pest management.
However, suppliers outside these categories can register on VendorPanel Local Marketplace, where Council officers will search for suppliers.
Ms Reidy urged businesses at the meet’n’greet which were not “pre-qualified” to go through the process with Council to make it easier for officers to engage their services, and for other businesses to register on Local Marketplace.
“The region would not exist without local business that’s why supporting local as best as I can is strongly ingrained in me,” Louise said.
- External link: SBRC Tenders & Supply
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Another guest speaker at the KCCI meet’n’greet was Attorney-General and Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington who listed some of her government’s activities since being elected last year.
She was particularly proud of the new Energy Roadmap which she said would secure jobs for Kingaroy; she reassured the community that coal would still be a major contributor to Queensland’s energy plan into the future.
Mrs Frecklington said both the Tanduringie (Kingaroy-Cooyar Road) and Cooyar (New England Highway) bridges would also be upgraded, with work happening on both at the same time.
“Barlil Weir is also a massive passion project for me … that’s something that will happen hopefully before the next election,” Mrs Frecklington said.
“We are also doing a huge amount of work to curb crime. More needs to be done … but we are seeing results.”
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South Burnett Hire & Sales hosted the meet’n’greet on October 21.
Co-owner Aleisha Gray said during the first quarter of business after they took over three years ago, they managed $191,000 in sales; in their most recent quarter, sales reached $747,000.
“Over the past three years we have invested over $1.3 million into expanding our hire fleet,” Aleisha said.
“We have grown our team from four to 11 people.
“In 2025, we have added 540 new clients to our database, completed 501 deliveries and 485 collections so far.”
She said the business was about to launch an online booking store, but bookings would still be able to be made by phone.
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Annual General Meeting
The next KCCI meet’n’greet will be held in conjunction with the Annual General Meeting on November 25.
The AGM will be held at the KCCI Business Hub, 195 Kingaroy Street, Kingaroy, from 5:15pm with the meet’n’greet to follow immediately afterwards.
The results of the “South Burnett Region Identity” project will be unveiled.
A second guest speaker will be Sueann Carr from business management consultancy Customer Frame.
