Doing business with council
Find out how to do business with council.
Council’s procurement activities are governed by the local government act and regulations and council’s procurement policy (PDF, 300KB).
Generally council will:
- seek quotes from suppliers (including from an established supplier arrangement) for contracts with a value lower than $500,000
- release public tenders for contracts with a value of $500,000 or more, or
- establish supplier arrangements where similar goods or services are regularly required. Supplier arrangements are established by way of public tender.
All procurement activities undertaken by council with a value greater than $50,000 will have pre-determined evaluation criteria and weightings. These criteria include capability and experience, methodology, social and economic factors, price are included in the Invitation document released to market.
Procurement documentation
Procurement documentation
Procurement documentation generally consist of:
- invitation - provides the overview of the procurement activity, listing all relevant schedules to the invitation
- process terms - governs how the procurement activity will be undertaken, including any evaluation or clarification processes
- terms and conditions - the terms and conditions that will apply to the contract formed between council and the successful supplier
- specification - specification documentation outlining the requirements, deliverables and/or milestones for the goods or services being sought
- supporting documentation - documentation provided for information purposes to assist respondents in forming their response to an Invitation. This documentation does not form part of the final contract documentation
- returnable schedules - documents required to be completed and returned as part of the respondent submission for council’s consideration.
Social and economic factors
Social and economic factors
Council is committed to supporting the local community by generating employment opportunities, strengthening local supply chains and supporting the development of a competitive local business and industry network.
This is encouraged by facilitating a preference for local suppliers, as well as identifying any social benefit or First Nation provider opportunities when undertaking a procurement activity.
Unless a genuine reason not to applies, any quotes sought with a value below $500,000 must be sought only from local suppliers. Further, all procurement activities undertaken by council include the social and economic factors criteria. This is a weighted criteria which allows suppliers to address how they contribute to the local economy and identify any social benefit or first nation provider opportunities within their business and/or supply chain.
Supplier arrangements
Supplier arrangements
Council will create supplier arrangements by way of public tender for goods or services that are required frequently, in high volume or where it is important to understand the capability of the suppliers. The supplier arrangement may be priced or non-priced. A list of council’s current supplier arrangements are available here.
Local buy
Local buy
Local buy is a procurement and purchasing service, a subsidiary of the LGAQ, aimed at helping local businesses. Local buy assists local businesses by providing them with opportunities to supply goods and services to local government agencies in Queensland. By partnering with local buy, local businesses can gain access to government contracts and tenders.
On occasions, council utilises local buy arrangements for procurement needs. Find out more including how to become a pre-qualified supplier.
Find opportunities
Find opportunities
Sunshine Coast Council tender alert service
By subscribing to council’s tender alert service, you will receive email alerts advising of new public tenders as they are advertised. Subscribe to the tender alert service.
VendorPanel Marketplace
From 21 September 2024 Council will release its public tenders via VendorPanel Marketplace and no longer through the Queensland Government QT website. To access and submit council tenders you will need to be registered with VendorPanel Marketplace. This site also allows you to view other local government and state government tenders throughout Queensland.
Public tenders released prior to 21 September 2024 are still to be accessed via the Queensland Government QTenders website.
ICN regional gateway
Council has partnered with the industry capability network (ICN) to deliver the business gateway platform. The platform allows project managers to advertise projects that need suppliers and allows suppliers to create profiles to show what they can do. This helps businesses find work and projects find suppliers. Join the network. For more information on the ICN gateway email [email protected].
Let us know
Advise your interest in providing services for upcoming request for quotes. While this does not guarantee work or an invitation to quote for services, your company information can be sent to [email protected] for passing on to the relevant business areas who may be interested in the services your company provides.