City of Ballarat to strengthen Procurement Policy OH&S requirements

The City of Ballarat will strengthen occupational health and safety (OH&S) requirements of potential contractors following a review of the city’s Procurement Policy.  

The Procurement Policy review was conducted to ensure the policy is contemporary to changes across relevant legislative areas, as well as advances in other sectors including OH&S, environmental sustainability, First Nations reconciliation plan actions, and child safety.  

Recommendations from the review will be integrated into the Procurement Policy, following endorsement from Councillors at a Council Meeting on Wednesday night.  

Based on the review findings, City of Ballarat officers made several recommendations for updates. These include:

• A recommendation to change the OH&S assessment criteria which will see potential contractors’ OH&S past performance and current OH&S systems weighted equally, with minimum thresholds to determine a pass or fail. Previously, OH&S assessment criteria prioritised potential contractors’ OH&S systems.
   
• A recommendation to enhance the mandated approach to evaluating sustainability, including environmental, social and First Nations considerations, where relevant.  
   
• Recommendations to ensure the policy is clearer to follow and easier to read. 
   

City of Ballarat Mayor Cr Des Hudson said integrating the review recommendations would lead to a policy that balanced the many considerations of procurement decisions.  

“Integrating the review recommendations represents an opportunity for the City of Ballarat to lead the way in terms of a Procurement Policy that not only meets legislative requirements, but actively prioritises other considerations relating to best practice procurement, including OH&S considerations,” he said.  

Following six months of operation of the adopted recommendations, City of Ballarat officers will complete a review to evaluate the effectiveness of the changes to the Procurement Policy.