Regional Procurement Group - March 2013
By: Regional Procurement Coordinator, Steven Cosatto...
FNQROC Procurement Committee
The FNQROC Procurement Committee would like to thank Mal Skipworth from MacDonnells Law for his offer to provide the committee with an update on the Local Government Legislation amendments affecting procurement at our next meeting. Mal will cover the following topics.
- contracting procedures, including increasing financial thresholds,
- exemptions regarding disposal of valuable non-current assets,
- publication requirements for contracts.
Sodium Hypochlorite
Recent flooding and train derailments in Queensland have impacted upon the supply of many items to the Far North. The supply of chlorine to the region’s water treatment units was one such item and required cooperation and understanding between the region’s water treatment coordinators and the supplier to manage this situation. I have been encouraged by recent advice from the new owners of the company that they are committed to the region and are in the process of:
- Establishing additional supply arrangements for delivery from Brisbane (established this month),
- Reviewing their regional storage capacity and they envisage doubling capacity this calendar year.
They also advised they could not have considered these investments if they did not have the regional commitment from all member Councils and were appreciative of Councils' long-term support.
Bitumen Reseal
As previously advised, FNQROC on behalf of member Councils began an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) process with industry regarding the region’s bitumen resealing programs. I should advise that for probity reasons I have been nominated by the Project Steering Committee (PSC) to be the sole contact point for suppliers and should council staff receive any enquiries regarding the process please contact me on 0428 486 447 or via email .
The process began with a Supplier information meeting held at Cairns Regional Council on 7 February. The PSC was greatly encouraged to receive registration requests from 10 suppliers. That initial information meeting has now been followed up with individual meetings with all suppliers wishing to continue involvement in the ECI process. I have been encouraged by the amount of time and willingness that suppliers have allowed for this process with the overwhelming response being that they appreciate ouncils involving them at such an early stage of the project. The findings from this process will be presented to the PSC for their consideration on 8 March.