Give Locals A Bigger Slice Of The Action

Mayoral candidate Michael Bloyce today announced that if elected he will push for greater weighting to be given to local suppliers and tenderers under Council’s Procurement Policy.

“It is time to stand up for our local, Sunshine Coast-based businesses,” said Mr Bloyce. “The current procurement or purchasing arrangements of Council do not give enough weight, in my opinion, to local firms getting local work. I want to see ratepayers’ money staying on the Coast.”

Mr Bloyce said the Local Government Act required Councils to have regard to the development of competitive local business and industry. “Many Councils, including our own, reflect that requirement in their purchasing policy, in terms of motherhood statements about supporting local firms that engage in local economic development, all other things being equal.”

“But given the stagnant economic conditions here on the Coast, particularly for small business, I believe we should be going further than that,” Mr Bloyce said. “Many Councils in Queensland and elsewhere are much more pro-local business and have set up local preference margins or premiums to ensure that local companies get a bigger slice of the action.”

Western Downs Regional Council, for example, is prepared to pay up to a 5% premium for goods and services from local suppliers. Similarly, North Burnett Regional Council has a local preference margin of 10% up to a purchase value of $50,000 and 5% over that figure that is applied to all offers received from businesses based within their region. “We should be doing the same,” said Mr Bloyce. “This is another way of getting local business back on its feet.”

In addition to percentage weightings, it is also possible to write into Council’s purchasing policy a requirement that wherever a local supplier is available, at least one quotation must be obtained from a local supplier “This would be another practical way of Council being seen to support local firms and have ratepayers’ funds used locally,” said Mr Bloyce.

“The benefits of local firms getting more of the local work to my mind far outweigh simple price considerations,” said Mr Bloyce. “The economic multipliers in terms of having locals contributing to the local economy are profound. Social and community cohesion and environmental benefits also accrue from having work done locally. The cost of paying a small premium is a small price to pay for seeing more locals employed and our communities reaping the benefits.”

Mr Bloyce said the days of Brisbane firms coming to cut grass on the Sunshine Coast or Gold Coast companies doing pest control would be numbered under a Bloyce-led Council. “There may be some instances in highly technical areas where specialist expertise needs to be brought in from further afield,” he said. “But for the vast majority of services, there should be a clear and transparent indication that we want locals to be getting the great majority of the local work on offer. That is only fair and reasonable.”

Michael Bloyce - Candidate for Mayor of the Sunshine Coast
08 February 2012
Give Locals A Bigger Slice Of The Action

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Publish Date: 08 Feb 12

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