Bitumen, Emulsions, Asphalt Materials & Services (LGP213-2)

The new Bitumen, Emulsions, Asphalt Materials and Services contract commenced on 1 July 2018 following a rigorous formal tender process delivering a robust panel of approved contractors that will deliver value for money on behalf of all NSW Customers.

Deliverables included under this arrangement:

Ex-Bin, Asphaltic Concrete (AC) Materials and other associated Materials

Supply and Deliver Bulk Cationic Rapid Setting (CRS) Grade Bitumen Emulsion and associated servicing of Emulsion vessels.

• Laying of AC services.
• Cold Milling of AC and Base Course services.
• Pavement Rejuvenation and/or Enrichment services.
• Crack Sealing Services.
• Stabilisation services.
• Spray Sealing Services.
• Road Patching Services
• Concrete Pavement Repairs
• Asphalt Mill and Fill Services provided on a project managed basis
• Contractors to provide their full range of services associated with the scope of this contract.

This contract was developed to include a wide range of products and services that LGP customers would require relating to Bitumen, Emulsions, Asphalt Materials and Services including all necessary labour, equipment lighting, consumables, vehicles, traffic management services specifically relating to the bituminous project, minor or major.

The initial contract term is for 3 years with two (2), one year extension options.

For more information please contact Marie Talevska - Category Manager, Fleet & Engineering via email or call 02 8270 8705.

Traffic Management Services (LGP113-2)

The new Traffic Management Services contract commenced on 1 July 2018 following a rigorous formal tender process delivering a robust panel of approved contractors that will deliver value for money on behalf of all NSW customers.

Deliverables included under this arrangement:

• Plant and Equipment Hire associated with Traffic Control
• Traffic Control and Management Planning
• Traffic Controllers and Labour Hire
• Other Traffic Management Services

All Approved Contractors are registered under the RMS Registration Scheme Category G "Traffic Control”. Personnel in traffic control roles must have attended and be qualified in the traffic control training courses relevant to their roles.

All Plant, Equipment TCP's, TMP's, Risk Assessments and any other service associated with this contract is to be done in accordance with the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) QA Specification G10 - Traffic Management (Edition 5 - Revision 3 November 2011) and be available in sufficient quantities to service the needs of the specific project.

The initial contract term is for 3 years with two (2), one year extension options.

The current list of approved contractors is located in the LGP’s Buyers Guide under Current Contracts, Engineering and Works tab.

For more information please contact Marie Talevska - Category Manager, Fleet & Engineering via email or call 02 8270 8705.

Internal Audit & Management Consulting Services (LGP218)

Local Government Procurement (LGP) brings to you our very first Internal Audit and Management Consulting Services Panel.

This panel will:

• facilitate a contract that will deliver value for money through a combined spend arrangement for NSW councils
• create an internal auditing panel arrangement to service NSW councils, and  
• provide a management consulting services panel arrangement to service NSW councils

This panel is aimed towards giving clients an effective and independent internal audit function that enhances good governance and accountability. It will provide access to a wider range of internal audit service providers on a cost effective basis, whereby they will be able to establish effective Audit, Risk and Improvement Committees. It is a one-stop shop to appropriately skilled consultants to support the internal audit function and provide a management consultancy function as required.

The panel contractors will provide the following Risk and Management Consultancy Services:

• examination of evidence and independent assessment of the effectiveness of risk management, internal controls and governance processes
• focus on efficiency, effectiveness and improvement of processes and practices
• compliance audits, performance audits, specialist or generalist information technology audits specialist or generalist work health safely audits, environmental audits, financial audits etc.
• consultancy, advisory and related professional activities. The nature and scope of which are agreed upon with the customer and which are intended to add value and improve business operations

Expected outcomes to be delivered by this panel are:

• effective and independent internal audit function that provides timely and useful information
• enhances good governance and accountability and drives continuous improvement; 
• deliver management consulting services to implement audit recommendations, with the objective of reducing risk and improving internal processes

The current list of approved contractors is located in the LGP’s Buyers Guide under Current Contracts, Services tab.

For further information please contact LGP Contract Management Team via email or call 02 8270 8717.

HELPFUL HINT
to Users of Human Resources (HR) – Permanent and Temporary Placements and Associated Services –LGP808-3

We note that some RFQs uploaded to VendorPanel are allowing considerable time (e.g. 2 weeks) for panel members to respond.  LGP respects that good governance and some council policies would recommend such a time.  However please bear in mind that the availability of a nominated placement is constantly varying.  Engagements take place all the time with short notice.  Hence councils may be better advised to allow a shorter period for responses to be provided.  Otherwise the risk is that a placement nominated for an engagement may not be available when the council eventually makes its decision.   Alternatively the panel member may feel inclined to withhold uploading placement details until the last minute in order to ensure the panel member still has the nominated placement available for the particular engagement.

Recent Legislation Affecting Terminations for Insolvency

If there is a provision in a contract which allows you the right to terminate for an ‘insolvency event’ (a party goes into in receivership, is placed under external administration etc.), it would be naturally assumed that you could exercise this right and terminate a contract on this basis. However, effective of 1 July 2018, it appears that such a provision may no longer be enforceable following amendments to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), made by the Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Enterprise Incentives No 2) Act 2017 (Cth).

An ‘ipso facto’ clause, in an insolvency context, is a clause in a contract which sets out the consequences if one of the parties becomes insolvent.

Whilst undertaking the insolvency law consultation process, The Parliament of Australia issued a media release (on 28 March 2017) stating that the purpose of the amendments are to “make ipso facto clauses, which terminate or amend a contract merely because a company has entered into a formal insolvency process, unenforceable. Making these clauses unenforceable will give companies a greater chance to successfully restructure and may increase the likelihood of being able to sell the business as a going concern.”

As we understand it, in respect to contracts entered into prior to July 1 2018, you would be acting within your rights if you decided to terminate a contract where the other the party experiences an ‘insolvency event’ by relying on that provision.

LGP is in the process of assessing the impact of these amendments on its panel contracts.  However we wish to make readers aware that in the event where a supplier, whether under an LGP contract or not, suffers an insolvency event, to seek legal advice to determine your next steps and not simply act on an ‘insolvency’ provision in your contract, as it may not be enforceable.

LGP Approved Contractor’s Insolvency - Read Case Study

Final Reminder to Register!

'Engineering Networking Meeting' - Sydney

Successful delivery of council infrastructure projects poses many challenges for council’s engineering and procurement teams, especially when it involves rate payers’ money and the community benefit we all expect.

Tight budgets and expectation of high quality, demands the projects are planned and delivered more efficiently and cost effectively. While planning infrastructure projects, councils seek value for money in the overall project solution while trying to control its total cost.

To get a better perspective of the strategic role of procurement in infrastructure projects, LGP invites you to attend the ‘Engineering Networking Meeting’ in Sydney on 9 August.

The event aims to assist engineers within local government to understand the benefits of involving the procurement team in the infrastructure planning stage.

Highly experienced and prominent speakers within the infrastructure development space will share experiences, expertise, innovative ideas, and best practices.

This event is free of charge and is a great opportunity to network with your peers and gain knowledge. 

The Power of Procurement

Registration now open

‘The Power of Procurement’ is the theme of the Local Government Procurement Annual Conference 2018.

• How can you determine the value of procurement? 
• How do you put procurement on the strategic agenda of your organisation? 
• What are other procurement leaders doing to demonstrate the power of procurement within their organisation?

The conference will demonstrate the strategic value of procurement and how you can use this to significantly elevate the importance of procurement within your organisation. 

We have designed the conference to feature a variety of sessions and address interesting topics that revolve around procurement and contract management, to help enhance your skills and capabilities for better performance and outcomes within your procurement role.

Benefit by gaining knowledge from experienced and knowledgeable procurement leaders with sector expertise and leading industry professionals on global procurement trends, technology, business intelligence, data management, analytics and contract management.

Confirmed speakers

• Tanya Harris – Global Procurement Manager, Fred Hollows
• Katrina Donaghy – Co-CEO and Co-Founder - Civic Ledger

• Olga Petinis – Associate Director, Advisory - KPMG

• Brent Reeman – Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer - Peak Services
• Chris Clark – Chief Executive Officer - AVCRM
• Sam Wesley – Director, Procurement and Vendor Management - Optus
• Rowan Howarth – Design Manager Infrastructure Delivery, Port Macquarie-Hastings Council
• Matthias Fuchs – Chief Procurement Officer - Boral

Over the years, this conference has been established as an industry event within NSW local government and brought together local government procurement professionals and managers to hear and learn about a range of procurement challenges within the sector.

Based on the keen interest from the private sector to attend the conference, this year we would like that procurement professionals from the private sector too benefit from this event and are pleased to extend the conference to procurement professionals within the private sector as well.​

The conference is an ideal event for those involved in procurement, in particular:

• Procurement Managers
• Governance Managers
• Purchasing Officers
• Contracts Managers
• General Managers and Senior Managers

Besides gaining valuable knowledge from industry experts and peers, this event also provides opportunities to develop new and build on existing professional networks and working relationships. 

Confirm your attendance at the early bird rate. Registration now open. 

For more information on the program and speakers please visit our website.

Planning & Specifications Development Training
Wednesday 17 October
Register Now!

While you come to attend LGP Annual Conference commencing 18th October, you may consider attending 'Planning and Specifications Development' training, scheduled to be delivered on 17th October in Sydney

Click for More Details

 Click here to REGISTER

Sponsorship Opportunities Available

Gold (1)
Entertainment
Drinks
Pen
Large Format Display Area (1)

The Local Government Procurement Conference is an established industry event for NSW local government. The conference provides a unique opportunity for suppliers to showcase their goods and services to a cross section of procurement professionals from across the state over two days.  It is also an excellent opportunity to attract potential customers and build on existing relationships already established.

The conference will be held on Thursday 18 October and Friday 19 October 2018 at Doltone House, Darling Island Wharf, Pyrmont Point.

Sponsorship opportunities are limited. Suppliers who wish to participate as a sponsor may view our Sponsorship Prospectus to confirm participation. You do not want to miss this opportunity.

The Local Government Procurement Awards celebrate those procurement professionals or groups who are making a difference in local government and their community. The Awards recognise excellence and best practice in the field of procurement within the local government sector.

The awarded recipients will receive a personalised plaque and professional development training offering of the winner's choice to the value of $2,500. The Awards will be presented at the Local Government Procurement Annual Conference dinner on Thursday 18 October 2018 at Doltone House Pyrmont.

The categories are:

• Outstanding Procurement Professional
  To be eligible the nominee must have a minimum 2 years experience in procurement within NSW local government
   
• New Outstanding Procurement Professional
  To be eligible the nominee must have less than 2 years experience in procurement within NSW local government
   
• Sustainable Procurement Achievement
  This award is for either an individual or organisation that has demonstrated exceptional sustainable procurement work

Nominations are now open and close at 5:00pm on Friday 21 September 2018. 

To submit a nomination complete the nomination form on the website and email to LGP Events.

For further information contact Emma Murray, Marketing and Communications Manager or 02 8270 8710.

LGP's New eLearning Program

Procurement & Contract Management 

Learn on the go! Explore the newly created online courses!  

LGP has developed a brand new eLearning modular program specifically focussed on NSW local government. This package is hosted on a state-of-the-art Learning Management System (LMS) that will enhance the overall learning experience. 

List of courses

• Procurement for Local Government
• Contract Management in Local Government 
• Probity in Procurement

Benefits

• Flexible learning option: anytime, anywhere
• Multi-device operability (computer, laptops or any other mobile devices)
• Interactive, engaging and independent learning
• Monitor, track and record learning journey
• Share knowledge and experience through discussion forums
• Administrative reporting on the progress and completions 

Some of the other services on offer include:

• Customisation of LGP’s current modules
• Instructional designing
• Content writing
• Graphic designing
• eLearning programming using Articulate 360 (one of the best packages)

For more information or for a trial access, please contact Niv Roy, Training Manager via email  or call 02 8270 8709.

Formalise your extensive procurement and contracting experience

Enrol into the Nationally Accredited Advanced Diploma of Procurement and Contracting (PSP60616) course

Any professional with rich and varied experience in procurement and contracting domain, looking at getting this knowledge validated, enrolling into this course would be an ideal step forward in career growth.

Overview: The Advanced Diploma course is suited for employees who manage strategic procurement, work in programs, projects or a corporate area or seek to be more competitive for promotion to the senior levels. It provides skills needed for employment at executive or senior officer levels in public sector.

Key benefits of completing this course:

• This course has been specifically customised for the local government sector and are developed and delivered by Pro Leaders Academy (RTO# 45024), subject matter experts in the field of government procurement.
• Obtain Australian Qualification Framework (AQF), Level 6 Nationally Recognised Qualification in .Procurement and Contracting
• Learn and enhance knowledge and skills from the experienced and well-informed trainers and  fellow participants
• Get a recognition of this learning as a pathway to Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) Qualifications.

Duration: 12 Days (9:00 am to 4:30 pm) spread over 3 months in blocks of two and three days. The last two days of the training focuses exclusively on assessment.

Fee: $5,000 per person (GST exempt)

Next intake
Block 1: 10-12 October 
Block 2: 7-9 November
Block 3: 26-28 November 
Block 4: 5-7 December 

REGISTER

We offer various other qualifications in Procurement and Contracting and Project Management.  Please click here for more details.

Upcoming Training Sessions

For any information or assistance regarding training, please contact Niv Roy, Training Manager on 02 8270 8709 or send an email.

Sustainable Procurement
Gaining Senior Management Buy-in

Good procurement practice is about achieving value for money. In order to do this, it is necessary to consider the cost incurred over the life cycle of a purchase, taking into account upfront, ongoing and end-of-life costs and social and environmental risks and benefits. This encompasses what sustainable procurement is.

ISO 20400 defines sustainable procurement as ‘procurement that has the most positive environmental, social and economic impacts possible over the entire life cycle.’ It involves identifying your organisational drivers for sustainability and assessing economic, social and environmental risks and opportunities in the procurement process.

Sustainable procurement strongly supports organisational objectives. Yet, in most councils it is still a struggle to gain the approval of decision makers.

For those wanting to progress Sustainable Procurement within their council, Sustainable Choice is proposing to lead a webinar involving a workshop aimed at producing a sustainability ‘Heat Map’ relevant to councils. This ‘Heat Map’ will identify the typical sustainability issues affecting councils and highlight the sustainability risks and opportunities related to procurement. It will provide a very useful tool in presenting a business case for sustainable procurement to the decision makers within your council. We would like to gage the interest level in such a webinar and ask that you please register your interest here.

Please note, participation in this webinar is only available to Sustainable Choice member councils.

LGP thanks all councils that have joined the LEAP program and are pleased to welcome you all to this amazing program.

• Georges River Council
• Dubbo Regional Council
• Inner West Council
• Armidale Regional Council
• Northern Beaches Council
• Queanbeyan-Palarang Regional Council

All councils are in the early stages of the three year program and we are delighted to report the following council successes:

• Demonstrated procurement savings of over $1.5M and growing
• Understanding current council procurement status  and developed targets for procurement maturity improvement
• Dashboards highlighting spend by council, including category spend, trends and comparisons
• Defined procurement improvement plans, endorsed and supported by council leadership.
• Mechanism to allow council to understand additional training and process needs improvement opportunities

LEAP, a low cost ongoing continuous improvement program that uses real data and evidence to improve procurement capability of council, continues to gain momentum!

If you would like more information about the program, please email us or visit our  website.

The LEAP program is delivered to councils by LGP in association with ArcBlue.

LGP Consulting Team

LGP extends its expertise and experience to provide councils with an additional service through its Consulting Team.

LGP’s Consulting Team are well positioned to facilitate end to end tender processes on behalf of individual councils.  Our Consulting Team comprises highly qualified and experienced professionals who have demonstrated success in facilitating tenders on behalf of councils.

Examples of recent tenders we have conducted on behalf of individual councils are:

• Refurbishment of Library Building
• Legal Services Panel – two individual council tenders
• Internal Audit Services
• Natural Resources Services
• Management and Operation of Swimming Centre
• Security Services - two individual council tenders
• Food and Garden Organic Processing
• Scrap Ferrous Metals, Green Waste Processing, Crushing and Screening of Concrete and Waste Bin Audit (4 separate tenders for a group of councils)
• Remediation of Land works
• Development and Management of Caravan Park (EOI)
• ICT Services Provider
• Vehicle Leaseback
• Cleaning Services
• Trade Services Providers
• Lighting and Sound Technician Services
• Dry and Wet Plant and Equipment – two individual council tenders
• Insurance Broker and Insurance Brokerage Services  for ten councils (joint tender process)
• CBD Reconstruction Tender

If you have any requirements for tender facilitation for any product or service please email the LGP Consulting Team or call 02 8270 8747.

Does it really cost more to buy local? ArcBlue have audited data from 25+ Councils using VendorPanel to manage procurement, and the results may surprise you. Not only does it not cost more to support local economic development, but the case study shows a cost saving of 9.74%. Interesting, right?

Read Case Study.

To contact VendorPanel Commercial Manager for Local Government, Alicia Te Hiko please email or  call (03) 9095 6181.

In August 2017, the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet updated the Unsolicited Proposals Guide for Submission and Assessment (the Guide) for NSW Government agencies. Councils should consider the Guide when developing their own guidelines for dealing with Unsolicited Proposals.

As you know, the LG Act provides numerous exemptions to the requirement to call for public tenders, including section 55(3)(i), that (emphasis added):

a contract where, because of extenuating circumstances, remoteness of locality or the unavailability of competitive or reliable tenderers, a council decides by resolution (which states the reasons for the decision) that a satisfactory result would not be achieved by inviting tenders

Message to Take Away

• Unsolicited Proposals must be managed carefully to ensure transparency, fairness and value for money. Careful management from the initial stages, including appointment of a probity advisor, is vital to manage risks and prevent headaches for council.
• Unsolicited Proposals must be unique and consistent with council’s objectives and plans.
• Unsolicited Proposals by their nature contain IP that must be identified and managed appropriately.

Monica Kelly from Prevention Partners explains more here.

Contact Prevention Partners NSW on 0438 280 621 or email to assist.

If there is any topic you would like covered next month, please feel free to contact Prevention Partners NSW to make suggestions.