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All Local Governments that are Members of WALGA are able to purchase goods and services through the WALGA Preferred Supplier Program (PSP).
Through the PSP, Members can access over 1,100 Preferred Suppliers across 12 Panels which include over 150 categories of different goods and services.
The Local Government Regulations provide a tender exemption for purchases through the PSP. This means that Members can save time and money by engaging prequalified Preferred Suppliers directly from the Panels rather than undertaking a full tender process.
Members can still run a competitive quotation process through the PSP but a lot of the work involved in a tender process has already been done during the Panel qualification process.
Preferred Suppliers are required to pay a management fee to WALGA which funds the operating costs of the PSP and other WALGA services and programs. This ensures WALGA subscription and membership fees are able to be kept at a minimum.
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Benefits of the Preferred Supplier Program
The PSP has been developed exclusively to benefit Members. The main way in which Members can benefit using the PSP is by saving time and administration costs because:
- Preferred Suppliers have been prequalified so much of the due diligence has already been undertaken by WALGA.
- There is no need to undertake a full tender process – WALGA has already done this on behalf of Members and when a Local Government purchases through the PSP there is a tender exemption under the Local Government (Functions and General) Regulations 1996.
- Local Governments can limit the number of suppliers invited in to the RFQ process, unlike when undertaking a public tender process.
- There are free template contracts (Member Conditions) for Members to use which have been legally drafted for Local Governments using the PSP.
- eQuotes (also known as VendorPanel) provides Members with a free online quotation tool to use when running a quotation process.
Preferred Supplier Program Panels
The PSP includes over 1,100 Preferred Suppliers providing a range of different goods and services from purchasing office stationery through to designing and constructing buildings and everything in between.
Preferred Suppliers have been grouped into 12 Panels and within these Panels are over 150 categories.
Visit the Preferred Supplier Directory
Using the Preferred Supplier Program
Using the PSP is easy!
It’s really just the same as running any quotation process except some of the work has already been done for Members by WALGA. With Preferred Suppliers already qualified through a tender process, Members essentially have a shortlist of suppliers who work with Local Governments ready to invite into the Request for Quotation.
WALGA also provides Members with free access to eQuotes (or VendorPanel) which is an online quotation platform with all Preferred Suppliers, template contacts and other useful tools pre-loaded and available to use during the RFQ process. eQuotes will automatically send invitations and notifications to Preferred Suppliers you want to invite into the Quotation saving Members time and effort with the administration of RFQs.
Like all procurement processes, planning is important. Local Governments should make sure that before starting the RFQ process they have a well-written Scope or Specification ready to include in the RFQ and any other information that could be useful to a Preferred Supplier when responding to the RFQ.
