Wollongong City Council continues to focus on meeting best practice when it comes to its procurement processes.
Last week the NSW Audit Office tabled the Performance Audit on Procurement Management in Local Government in NSW Parliament. Wollongong was one of six councils selected to participate in the process that ran from September to December 2019.
The report noted Council’s stringent standards of corporate governance and found that our Procurement Framework, and the individually reviewed procurements, were all compliant with the relevant legislation.
“Council has been very focussed on making sure we’re meeting the mark when it comes to meeting industry standards and expectations around our procurement processes,” Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said.
“This report shows that we are not only compliant with relevant legislation but that our approach to procurement training was highlighted as an area of good practice.”
The Audit was not just about compliance, but also improvement, and several opportunities were identified for all councils to lift their procurement management, mitigate risks and ensure best outcomes.
“Of the six improvement areas for all Councils, I’m pleased to say that Wollongong is already implementing three of these measures to best practice standards,” Cr Bradbery said.
“We are always looking at areas and ways to improve our processes to ensure we’re meeting our community’s expectations, as well as our obligations from a legal point of view. As an example of this, we have this year added an additional ‘local’ weighting to the procurement assessment process to support businesses based in the area.
