My Local Buy Story - CT Management Group

Published on 16 September 2026

My-LB-Story-CT-Management

Connecting councils with the right expertise so they can make confident decisions

Feature Article by CT Management Group

CT Management Group has been a long term pre-qualified supplier on Local Buy since it was established in 2001, providing Queensland councils with a simple, compliant and efficient way to engage our specialist advisory services.

CT Management Group is a specialist advisory and delivery consultancy supporting local government and public sector organisations across Australia. We work alongside councils to strengthen capability, improve decision-making, and deliver practical outcomes across asset management, project and program delivery, financial sustainability, emergency management and governance.

Our business was established to address a growing challenge across local government: councils are expected to do more with increasingly complex asset portfolios, tighter budgets, higher community expectations and stronger compliance requirements, often without the internal capacity or specialist expertise required. We exist to bridge that gap.

Our approach is deliberately practical and collaborative. We don’t just produce plans or reports; we help councils implement, embed, and operationalise solutions. This includes developing Asset Management Plans and Strategic Asset Management Plans, improving asset data and registers, conducting condition assessments, strengthening governance frameworks, reviewing fleet and plant operations, and supporting councils to transition towards more digital, data-driven decision-making.

We place a strong emphasis on transparency, evidence-based advice, and long-term sustainability. Increasingly, our work supports councils to move away from fragmented or manual approaches towards integrated, data-driven models that enable clearer insights, better forecasting, and more confident investment decisions.

Ultimately, our purpose is to help councils deliver safer, more reliable and more sustainable services for their communities, both now and into the future.

Working with Local Buy

Local Buy aligns strongly with our values, particularly around transparency, governance, and supporting councils to achieve value-for-money outcomes.

Being appointed as a pre-qualified supplier to Local Buy Arrangements enables councils to access our expertise without the time and administrative burden of running a full procurement process. This is especially valuable when councils are operating under pressure, facing tight timeframes or requiring specialist capability quickly.

Our appointment supports councils across a range of asset management, planning, and advisory services, allowing them to engage us through an established and trusted procurement framework.

We have worked with councils through a variety of engagement pathways, including direct engagement, RFQs and VendorPanel processes via Local Buy.

Fleet management in practice - Gympie Regional Council

A recent example of this work is our Fleet and Plant Management Review for Gympie Regional Council in Queensland.

Managing a fleet valued at approximately $28 million, council was operating in an environment shaped by major flood events, increasing operational costs and ongoing pressure on budgets and capital funding.

With fleet and plant playing a critical role in the delivery of infrastructure and community services, council sought greater visibility over asset utilisation, lifecycle costs, replacement planning, and future funding requirements.

CT Management Group, working with strategic alliance partner Uniqco, undertook a data-driven review of council’s light fleet and mobile plant scheduled for replacement over the following three years.

The review assessed existing assets against optimum replacement benchmarks and considered opportunities to improve lifecycle management, funding approaches, risk management, and sustainability.

Key findings and recommendations included:

  • Identifying 17 mobile assets operating beyond their optimum replacement life.
  • Recommending an optimum replacement cycle of seven years or 150,000 kilometres for light vehicles.
  • Exploring a transition towards operating lease arrangements where capital funding constraints existed.
  • Establishing a formal risk assessment framework for assets retained beyond their optimum replacement life.
  • Providing greater visibility of lifecycle costs and fleet efficiency to support future investment decisions.
  • Considering the transition to electric and more sustainable fleet alternatives where operationally and financially viable.

The review provided council with a clearer evidence base for future fleet decisions and a structured approach to balancing service requirements, asset risk, affordability, and long-term sustainability.

Importantly, the work demonstrates how effective fleet management is about more than determining when to replace a vehicle or piece of plant. Understanding whole-of-life costs, utilisation, operational risk and future funding requirements can help councils make more informed investment decisions and ensure limited resources are directed where they can deliver the greatest value for their communities.

To explore the project in more detail, read the full Gympie Regional Council Fleet and Plant Management Review case study: https://ctman.com.au/case-study-gympie-regional-council/

Making it easier to access the right expertise

Working with Local Buy makes it easier for councils to access specialist expertise when they need it, supporting informed decisions, stronger asset and fleet management practices and more sustainable community outcomes.

Whether the challenge is fleet and plant optimisation, asset management planning, condition assessments, financial sustainability or broader strategic advisory support, CT Management Group works alongside councils to turn evidence and insight into practical action.

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