Winner - CIPS Best Procurement Transformation & Change Program Award

We're thrilled to announce that we won the 'Best Procurement Transformation & Change Program' award at the CIPS Australia & New Zealand 2024 procurement excellence awards.

Mike Waterland and Kathryn Dalley accepted the award on behalf of the entire Local Buy team and celebrated our second win for two-years running!

This award is a reminder of how great our industry is; every day, we get to experience the lasting effect our procurement processes, practices and technology have impacted (directly and indirectly) government, business, community and society – and every day we get to be a small part of the positive change.

Here's what the judges said:

Local Buy identified an opportunity to lead a procurement transformation programme across Queensland local government to support local suppliers. A Nation-first initiative to have each Arrangement open every 3 months to enable new suppliers to join or existing suppliers to expand the Categories they are in, to engage work with Queensland Councils. The judges noted that this project was an incredibly impressive program of work that everyone involved in should be extremely proud of. It shows how understanding the barriers to entry for suppliers and making meaningful change to support them can be of huge benefit.  

Thank you to our amazing Local Buy Team for your incredible hard work, commitment, enthusiasm, and just all-round excellence.

SUMMARY OF OUR SUBMISSION

Award Criteria:

Recognising procurement transformation projects: This category is for transformation or large scale business process improvement projects that have resulted in improved business outcomes or increased competitive advantage. Projects can be procurement–led or wider organisational projects, but they must explicitly explain procurements' role and influence on delivering the outcomes.

Local Buy identified an opportunity to lead a procurement transformation programme across Queensland local government to support local suppliers; a Nation-first initiative to have Arrangements open every 3 months to enable new suppliers to join or existing suppliers to expand the Categories they are in, to engage work with Queensland Councils.

The previous terms of our Agreements (between 2-5 years) were identified as a constraint, preventing local suppliers from the opportunity to tender whilst remaining compliant with the Local Government Regulations 2012.

We identified that changing the procurement model and opening Arrangements every quarter, would provide opportunities for both suppliers and purchasers.

A Quarterly Arrangement Project team was established with a 12-month development timeframe to release the first round of quarterly tenders to market on 1 August 2021. The transition to quarterly Arrangements was completed in 2024 with the National Procurement Network Trucks contract that can now be opened every quarter.

Challenging Aspects of the Project

The use of the new Local Buy quarterly Arrangements is a nation-first initiative and came with no prior learning or experience to shape our strategic approach. The impact of COVID meant that councils were challenged by resource and personnel implications and were keen to engage local suppliers to help provide economic stimulus to their communities. Local suppliers needed to have more access to tendering opportunities through the pre-qualification process that Local Buy offers.

The teams worked closely with technology partners and the legal team to redesign the way we worked, and a high level of momentum and focus was maintained.

The evaluation systems were examined and tested step-by-step from the tenderers' perspective to ensure process flow and ease of access.

The creation of portfolio Pods was a new approach for the Category Managers – they completed reviews of their Arrangements and confirmed expiry dates and extension option status.

The recruitment of a pool of 20 external consultants was a challenging exercise considering the COVID climate, however, the advertised Expression of Interest was well responded to, and we engaged personnel with a high level of expertise in their relevant specialty.

There were several third-party components to be considered and addressed throughout the process, including HR involvement and technology partners.

Our goal to provide regular opportunities for suppliers to become pre-qualified on a Local Buy Arrangement, with the same rigour of a tender process (fully compliant to all legislative requirements) with annual compliance checks, was successfully achieved.

This Arrangement process has made a significant difference to the value Local Buy provides to councils. Our Arrangements:

• Can adapt quickly to changing markets.
• Allow existing suppliers to be appointed to new Categories as their services grow.
• Enable new 'market-entry' suppliers to become pre-qualified.
• Ensure access to a wide range of suppliers from local to large national.
• Make it easier for councils to connect to their local suppliers.

Our Arrangements deliver a measurable procurement transformation programme focused against 3 KPI's:

• Increase in Supplier base.
• Increase in usage of Local Buy Arrangements.
• Increase in customer satisfaction (NPS).

Local Buy's innovative quarterly Arrangements process has revolutionised the traditional panel arrangement approach and connected local small, medium and large businesses with local government.