COUNCIL has responded to a local building designer who was left frustrated by its decision to award a design contract to an out-of-town firm by saying the city has a responsibility to ratepayers to secure the best deal and that Bendigo was a “recognised leader” in maximising local benefits from money spent.   

City of Greater Bendigo contract and project coordination manager, Richard Morrison, said the city was unable to disclose specific details about the matter due to the confidential nature of the tender process.

“However, the city is required by law to run a fair and competitive tender process that does not exclude businesses outside the region from competing for work,” he said.

“The organisation has a responsibility to ratepayers to make financially sound decisions to get the best value for money.”

Late last month council awarded the $144,500 architectural design services contract for the Strathfieldsaye Community Hub to Melbourne-based firm Henderson and Lodge.

Bendigo-based building designer Rodney Smith of Smith Design Group, said his was one of several local companies which was capable of planning the upgrade. 

Mr Smith said his company’s bid, done in conjunction with another local design firm, outlined its plan to employ local contractors from engineering to soil testing. 

The tender evaluation does consider ‘local content’ in its weighting system, attaching an importance of 10 per cent. ‘Capability’ is the most important of the criteria at 30 per cent, ‘capacity’ is weighted at 20 per cent and ‘value’. 

“To me, that’s the part that seems really wrong,” Mr Smith said, arguing council raise the weighting attached to the ‘local’ criteria in future contracts. 

“I run a business in town and when I engage another business, the first thing I would consider is, ‘are they a client of mine, have they done work for me or have I done work for them?’

“Then I would look at what the fees are and all the other issues around capability.”

Mr Morrison said council did encourage tenderers to submit local details about how they would engage the local economy. 

“The city actively supports and encourages tenderers to submit a local content schedule, which details if local sub-contractors will be employed and if local material will be sourced, to be scored as part of the evaluation criteria,” he said. 

“In a fair and competitive tender process, a local content criteria weighted at 10 per cent is a significant advantage for local businesses. It is at the top end of the industry standard, which usually ranges from 0 per cent to 10 per cent.

“The city is a recognised leader in its efforts to achieve increased community benefit from the money it spends.

“In the past year our focus on social procurement has won a state award and the city was the only council in Australia nominated for an award at the recent Social Traders, National Social Enterprise Awards.

“A 10 per cent local content criteria is a reasonable balance between our strong desire to support local business and the responsible financial management our ratepayers expect to keep rates at a minimum.”      

For more on the Strathfieldsaye Community Hub, see council’s website.