Regional businesses can find out more about upcoming local State Government contract opportunities at a series of 18 forums around Western Australia, starting this week.
The forums follow last month’s release of the McGowan Government’s Buy Local Policy, to ensure regional businesses benefit from the State’s annual $27 billion spend on goods, services and works.
Both initiatives are part of the McGowan Government’s commitment to boost regional economies and create jobs.
The WA Industry Link Regional Communication Forums, which kick off in Albany on Thursday, July 23, give small and medium enterprises the chance to hear directly from State Government agencies about local contract opportunities and about the Buy Local Policy.
They will also provide regional businesses with information about the wider range of programs that support them, including updates to the Western Australian Industry Participation Strategy and funding such as the Local Capability Fund.
Improvements to the Buy Local Policy include Regional Price Preferences that give local businesses a price advantage in bidding to supply to the State Government and ‘look-ahead’ lists of forthcoming tenders to allow local contractors more time to bid.
The next Regional Communication Forums are in Bunbury, Busselton and Collie from July 28 to 30. Businesses can register for their local forum on the WA Industry Link Portal, at https://industrylink.wa.gov.au/events
As stated by Premier Mark McGowan:
“The Regional Communication Forums give regional small and medium sized businesses the chance to hear first-hand about the opportunities coming from State projects, to create jobs in regional WA.
“This is a chance for them to hear from the decision-makers about what’s coming up, and also to learn more about the recently launched and improved Buy Local Policy 2020.
“The policy establishes new communication channels between regional stakeholders and the State Government and these forums are key to that aim.
“The Regional Communications Forums will help ensure that the work done to date in understanding the views of regional stakeholders will carry into tangible outcomes for local businesses.
“The State Government’s focus is to ensure Western Australia continues to recover strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These Regional Communication Forums will provide timely information to businesses to secure work, access funding and in turn support their local economies and create jobs for local workers.”
