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Guidelines for suppliers

We manage our procurement activities in an honest, open, transparent and accountable manner that is fair, ethical and impartial, that deals with conflicts of interest and adheres to confidentiality provisions where appropriate.

AlburyCity is committed to the principles of social and sustainable procurement, ensuring procurements demonstrate value for money, generate positive impacts considering Social, Environmental, Economic, Leadership and Governance factors locally and broadly, in serving its community with excellence.

Our procurement activities aim to achieve outcomes that benefit our people, place and progress, encourage competition and innovation within an appropriate risk management framework.

Before proceeding to submit your offer, quote or tender submission, please read the documents very carefully and familiarise yourself with the Conditions of Quote/Tendering, Terms and Conditions outlined, any Specifications or requirements before deciding whether your offer will be suited and will address Council’s needs.

AlburyCity’s procurement process is conducted in accordance with the Local Government Act 1993 and the Local Government (General) Regulation 2021.

Suppliers and Tender applicants are asked to review the Statement of Business Ethics and are reminded that canvassing or lobbying Councillors or Council staff, in relation to any aspect of the purchase or tender, will automatically disqualify the Tenderer from the process.

AlburyCity’s Procurement Practices:

Social and sustainable procurement practices enable and encompass:

  • Efficient and effective operations
  • Value for money and whole of life considerations
  • Social sustainability and inclusivity
  • Sustainable environmental outcomes, considering impact
  • Corporate and Public risk management
  • Legislative compliance
  • Governance - probity, transparency, and ethical behaviour
  • Industrial relations and respect for human rights
  • Continuous improvement and innovation
  • Effective Contract Management
  • Social sustainability and inclusivity: keyboard_arrow_right

    Council is committed to being inclusive, generating social value through procurement and purchasing processes to maximise opportunities and benefits for the people and stakeholders that it serves.

    Council will preference local suppliers, organisations that provide meaningful work for people with disabilities, seek to engage indigenous and first nations suppliers, people and organisations that come from or support minority or disadvantaged communities, and those that create other positive social impacts where possible, where other factors are equal, reasonable, and comparative with market rates offered.

    AlburyCity seeks to:

    • Create a level playing field for all suppliers and ensures the market place remains dynamic, diverse and more competitive in the long term;
    • Provide for greater employment and training opportunities that can help to encourage residents to come to or remain in the region to live, spend and work;
    • Encourage local involvement and investment of all industry sectors;
    • Provide for capacity and capability building of local businesses; and
    • Ensure that procurement activities and contracts are conducted under fair and inclusive trading practices, acceptable employment conditions and that comply with all relevant legislation.

    Benefit to the local region and Australian manufacturers

    AlburyCity is committed to spending in the community where it serves, supporting local businesses where purchases are justified on value for money grounds, while remaining compliant with the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and other fair trading legislation requirements.

    A weighting percentage of 10% will be assigned to the evaluation criteria element of “benefit to the Albury Wodonga region” for tenders and substantive quotations.

    AlburyCity will examine aspects like where the supplier has a local business presence, the percentage of and potential to increase local employment, percentage of materials, plant and equipment sourced and used locally and what other social and sustainable benefits the business can address and offer the local community.

    Wherever practicable, AlburyCity will give preference to contracts for the purchase of goods, equipment, machinery or materials manufactured locally or produced within Australia.

    A standard set of questions under the criteria of benefit to the local region will appear in our quotation and tender documents:

    • Is your businesses head office located in the Albury-Wodonga Region?
    • Does your business have a permanent presence in the Albury-Wodonga region?
    • What percentage of labour and subcontractors will be sourced in the Albury-Wodonga region for this procurement activity?
    • What percentage of materials, plant and equipment will be sourced or manufactured in the Albury-Wodonga region for this procurement activity?
    • Will this procurement activity result in an increase in employment in the Albury-Wodonga region? Please provide details.
    • Are you a social enterprise, indigenous business, minority owned business, volunteer organisation or a disability firm?
    • What benefit does your business bring to the local community? For example:
      • Sponsorships of sporting groups, youth services or community organisations.
      • Employment and training opportunities for minority groups. How are or will these be implemented?
      • Opportunities for skills and technology transfer to increase the skills of local businesses and individuals.
      • Potential to undertake innovation, research and development of technology; and
      • Employment training opportunities to the unemployed or disadvantaged local residents.
  • Environmental sustainability considering impact: keyboard_arrow_right

    Procurement decisions aim to support and mirror Council’s resolutions on sustainability including goals and targets relating to Halve Waste, the abolishment of single-use plastics, climate change, energy use and carbon emissions. Environmental procurement practices result in numerous benefits, Council aims to achieve and influence the following through its supply arrangements:

    • improving the efficiency of resource use and reuse
    • landfill diversion, reduced waste and pollution
    • encouraging biodiversity and habitat protection
    • provision of markets for environmentally preferable products
    • increasing recycling and support to make recycling activities more viable
    • socially just and environmentally sustainable supply chains
    • encouraging the adoption of cleaner technologies
    • encouraging industries to produce products with lower environmental impact with whole of life, circular economy, ethical disposal, or reuse options
    • Carbon mitigation and/or abatement
    • Resilience to a changing climate.

    Value-for-money purchasing decisions made by the council are made on the basis of whole-of-life cost and non-price factors including contribution to the council’s sustainability objectives.

    When evaluating offers, the overall environmental impact of products will be considered including the reasonable anticipated product lifecycle, with options to:

    • Remove (or eliminate – is the product really needed?)
    • Reduce (can the outcome be achieved with less of the product or fewer products?)
    • Re-cover (can the product be re-covered for re-use or recycling?)
    • Re-use (will the product last a long time, and can it be used multiple times?)
    • Recycle (can the product be easily and effectively recycled?
  • Corporate, Work Health Safety and Public Risk: keyboard_arrow_right

    When initiating a purchase, consideration is given to the identification of unacceptable risks and either the elimination of the risk or management of the risk to an acceptable level under AlburyCity’s risk management framework.

    Goods and services procured and acquired by AlburyCity are to meet relevant Australian Standards as appropriate, have and uphold relevant licences/certification, insurances, warranties and guarantees as per our Terms and Conditions of Purchase.

    Contractor work health and safety

    We are committed to work, health and safety (WHS) and recognise our duty to ensure the health and safety of all persons who are potentially impacted by council’s activities and operations. This duty extends to the activities of all contractors and subcontractors engaged by us.

    AlburyCity has developed and implemented a comprehensive safety management system, consistent with Australian Standards, which provides a high standard of workplace health and safety and aims for zero harm. It requires all of our relevant contractors and subcontractors to have in place safe systems of work at least equivalent to the safety standards in place at AlburyCity.

    Relevant contractors are those who undertake work at our facilities or in a public place on our behalf. It is a requirement that all relevant contractors who provide services to Council, be WHS registered. This involves the completion of a Contractor Safety Compliance Package to demonstrate a Supplier’s ability to manage WHS and that they have the appropriate insurance and licences in place.

    Contractors are required to complete and submit the Contractor Safety Compliance Package prior to undertaking any work for AlburyCity and we may also ask for this to be completed by those suppliers who wish to submit a quote or tender.

    Failure to have an adequate safety system in place can make a quote or tender submission non-compliant, regardless of the quality of the rest of the submission.

Further Information

For more information about our key procurement principles please refer to our Social and Sustainable Procurement Policy, or contact Procurement Services via the methods on our Contact Us page.

Public Interest Disclosures

AlburyCity encourages contractors and subcontractors to report any serious wrongdoing (as defined under s13 of the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2022) if they witness, or otherwise become aware of, wrongdoing within our organisation.

AlburyCity’s Public Interest Disclosure Policy, including how to make a report, can be found under ‘P’ on the Policies and Procedures webpage. Contractors and subcontractors of AlburyCity may be entitled to protections under the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2022 if wrongdoing is reported.