Procurement

The Procurement team has responsibility to ensure that all Council purchasing is conducted in an open and accountable manner and that all purchases are risk free and represent best value for Council.

Staff are required to contact the Procurement team to discuss the most practical purchasing procedure for their needs prior to commencing a purchasing process.

A Purchase Order must be issued for all purchases, however, there are other Terms and Conditions that may be more relevant to your purchase including Risk exposure, and your contact with the Contracts Unit will identify the required documentation.

For the purposes of this section the following transactions are not considered to be procurements of goods and services and are exempt from the requirements to raise purchase orders/ seek quotations or procure under a tender process:

• Rate Refunds
• Refunds to Community Care clients
• Trust Refunds
• Employee Re-imbursements
• Utilities - water, telephone, mobile, gas, electricity, sewerage charges.
• Australia Post
• Community Grants and Sponsorships
• Memberships and Subscriptions
• Couriers
• Petty Cash
• Seminars and conferences
• Travel related expenses
• Goods/service purchased on a corporate purchasing card 
• Insurance claims
• Planning application/Building
• Medical accounts
• Purchase of property

Please note multiple purchase orders cannot be applied to one invoice that exceeds the purchase order authoriser’s financial delegation.

Multiple invoices may be applied to a purchase order under the order authoriser’s financial delegation.

The following information and links will enable staff to identify the most appropriate procurement method available and the process to be followed.

Measures which intentionally avoid public tendering

Measures which intentionally seek to avoid the requirement to give public notice – for example, contract splitting, placing multiple orders, seeking multiple quotations with a single supplier or engaging in effect a single supplier under different guises – will breach the requirement to call public tenders where threshold values would otherwise be reached.

Please note multiple purchase orders cannot be applied to one invoice that exceeds the purchase order authoriser’s financial delegation.

Multiple invoices may be applied to a purchase order under the order authoriser’s financial delegation.

Use of a public notice for procurements below the threshold

Council may undertake a public tender where the value of goods, services or works does not reach the threshold sums. These may be situations where a public tender is preferred or prudent, managing risk considerations are paramount, or there is a desire for greater transparency of the procurement. 

Tender Opening Procedures

The Etendering Portal shall be opened immediately after the closing deadline by two nominated officers of the Procurement Team.

The Contracts and Administration will unzip the submissions and place them in Objective (EDMS) in Tenders and Contract Submissions - Business Unit Viewing Area; and give access to the TEP after receiving the signed conflict of interest forms.

Should there be a requirement to receive physical tender submissions, a contract officer will collect the Tender submissions and issue a receipt to the submitter and place the tender submission in a locked place.

No inspection of tender documents is allowed by any persons other than the eligible officers opening the tenders.