Transforming the Queensland city’s procurement function means it’s prepared to host the 2018 event
In 2018 the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, will host the next Commonwealth Games. Australia’s sixth-largest city is home to the country’s second-largest local government, with an annual operating budget of $1.2bn. It provides services from animal management and tourist parks to libraries, water and waste management and graffiti removal.
Before 2015 its procurement function was low-skilled, decentralised and process-driven, with little in the way of direction, policies or procedures. It relied on thousands of contractors and suppliers to service its communities. An improvement was urgently needed to help with efficiency and effectiveness, and so a transformation was launched to set up a dedicated procurement department and function based around category management.