Local Buy Explained

Local Buy is a not-for-profit entity which is owned by the LGAQ (Local Government Association of Queensland). The LGAQ is the peak industry body for local government across the state and all 77 councils are members.

When council staff purchase goods or services they must abide by legislation set down in the Local Government Act and the Local Government Regulation. There are guidelines around the processes that must be followed and monetary thresholds surrounding the dollar value of the purchase.

If the goods or services cost more than $200,000 or council spends more than $200,000 with a supplier through a contract then they must run an open market tender to procure the goods/services.

Tenders are costly and time consuming and on average take 6 weeks before the successful supplier is notified.

Local Buy is an exception under the Local Government Regulation and allows council to procure goods/services over $200,000 without performing the tender process. There is no upper limit and councils have used Local Buy to procure goods up to $5M in value without a tender.

Local Buy has formed 35 pre-qualified supplier arrangements across many categories to assist council speed up the procuring of goods and services. For some categories, we have established discounted pricing which helps councils achieve better value for money for ratepayers.

Councils can engage with Local Buy suppliers through a Request for Quotation rather than having to perform a full tender when they procure over the tender threshold of $200,000.

There are over 1200 Local Buy pre-qualified suppliers and they can be viewed here: https://www.localbuy.net.au/documents/41023365/41035382/lb_supplier_contract_summary_list.pdf

Local Buy benefits both council and suppliers by streamlining the procurement process for both parties.

If you would like more information about using Local Buy to help you procure or if you are a supplier looking to become Local Buy pre-qualified, please don’t hesitate to contact me on [email protected]

Please note: Local Buy refers to Local Government Buy rather than “local” to each region.