Encouraging a competitive infrastructure construction market
10 October 2018
Federal Government: Examining
how
procurement policy and practices can deliver better value for
taxpayers and foster the development of expertise and experience in the
construction sector will be the focus of a report commissioned by Deputy
Prime Minister Michael McCormack today.
Speaking at a summit of infrastructure leaders in
Melbourne this morning, Mr McCormack said it is important taxpayers
get maximum bang for thier buck under the Government's $75 billion
decade long
infrastructure pipeline.
“As an informed investor, the Australian Government is committed to
ensuring we deliver value for money for the Australian taxpayer,” Mr
McCormack said.
“Around the country our investment is focused on improving safety and
driving economic growth, creating around 50,000 additional direct and
indirect
jobs, and we want to maximise that benefit. As our
infrastructure program grows, it becomes even more imperative to ensure
there is nothing in the current Commonwealth and state payment
arrangements hampering a competitive market.
“The community should have confidence the size of the Government's
infrastructure investment provides opportunities across the construction
supply chain. We know the benefits that can come from fair and
reasonable opportunity for Australian businesses to compete for work.”
Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population Alan Tudge said
the increasing scale and complexity of urban infrastructure projects
makes it even more important to get procurement and tendering right.
“As part of the Government's $5.3 billion commitment to build
Western
Sydney Airport, WSA Co has embarked on a competitive,
value-for-money procurement strategy to secure a range of companies to
provide design, technical, project management and construction
services,” Mr Tudge said.
“The
tendering for the first stage of the Western Sydney Airport has
been broken down into smaller parts to help encourage more potential
bidders to put their names forward to complete the early earth works,
including second and third tier providers.”
Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister Andrew Broad said
discussions with industry will help understand experiences in major
procurements and identify the best ways to support local construction
contractors to engage on infrastructure projects being funded by the
Commonwealth.
“It is important that we show the leadership and work with state and
territory governments to refine the settings for major infrastructure
projects to support local content and grow the experience and capability
of the Australian construction industry,” Mr Broad said.
The Australian Government will work with industry to develop a report to
take to the COAG Transport and Infrastructure Council later in 2018. A
series of workshops with industry will be held over the next month.
For more information on the Australian Government's $75 billion infrastructure investment pipeline, visit http://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/.
--ENDS--
Source: Australian Government - www.minister.infrastructure.gov.au
Contact: N/A
External Links: http://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/
Recent news by: Australian Government