We are committed to community and business growth and will seek to incorporate social benefit into all Council procurement within the context of purchasing on a value for money basis.
Social procurement refers to the generation of social value through purchasing and procurement processes and provides the opportunity to:
- Develop a broad and more flexible supplier market;
- Create a level playing field for all suppliers and ensures the Council's supply market remains dynamic, diverse and more competitive in the long term;
- Improve competition in the supplier market;
- Provide for greater employment and training opportunities that can help to encourage residents to remain in the region and ensure their work readiness;
- Foster a new social economy that encourages local involvement;
- Provide for capacity building of local businesses for tendering and quoting practices and procedures; and
- Ensure fairness and equity in regard to social enterprises such as disadvantaged firms, social firms, Indigenous businesses, volunteer organisations and disability firms that will generate employment and deliver other local social impacts.
A standard set of questions under the criteria of benefit to the local region will appear in our quotation and tender documents are as follows:
- Is your businesses head office located in the Albury-Wodonga Region? Please provide details?
- Does your business have a permanent presence in the Albury-Wodonga region? Please provide details.
- 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.
- 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?
- Are you a social enterprise, indigenous business, minority owned business, volunteer organisation or a disability firm? Please explain.
- 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.
The criteria weighting will be split 50/50 between local supply and community benefit with a combined weighted score of 10 per cent of the total evaluation. The local region for the purpose of procurement, tendering and contract management is to be interpreted as the Albury-Wodonga region.