Disaster Recovery - responding rapidly and rebuilding resilience

Published on 17 January 2024

Queensland has had its fair share of natural disasters in recent months. We’re here to support councils and their communities with the aftermath through recovery, rebuild and resilience phases.

It is vital that councils respond quickly to a disaster event to help facilitate community recovery. This is when using Local Buy Arrangements is especially useful for councils to rapidly access quality suppliers. All appointed suppliers have demonstrated their managerial, financial and technical capability to deliver a defined set of goods and/or services through a stringent and legally compliant tender process run by Local Buy.

Local Buy has a range of established pre-qualified supplier Arrangements accessible to councils. The easiest and quickest way to engage Local Buy’spre-qualified suppliers is through VendorPanel. Engaging suppliers through Local Buy’s Arrangements greatly reduces procurement time and costs compared to a traditional tender process.

One of the benefits of using these Arrangements is assurance that councils meet the compliance requirements of the Queensland Local Government Regulations 2012 (Qld). Another benefit allows for the competitive process to be undertaken in accordance with council procurement policies. It’s important to note that Local Buy’s Arrangements can be used for goods, services and projects of any size or cost, from minor works to high value and complex civil infrastructure projects.

Councils have used our Arrangements during disaster response and recovery for:

• Road, water, sewage and civil infrastructure repair.
  • BUS270 Road, Water, Sewerage & Civil Works
• Engineering and environmental services for damage assessment and prioritisation of response.
  • LB312 Engineering & Environmental Consultancy Services
• Sport and recreation facilities, and public areas, parks and amenities restoration and replacement.
  • LB303 Sport and Recreational Facilities and Equipment
  • LB304 Public Areas Facilities, Parks and Amenities
• Landscape and gardening services to assist with clean up, removal of debris and installation of new gardens
  • LB305 Landscape, Gardening and Arboricultural Services
• Sourcing of construction materials, electrical supplies, lighting and general hardware.
  • LB298  Building and Construction Materials
  • LB293 General Hardware Supplies
  • LB299 Electrical and Lighting supplies
• Veterinary services when animals are affected.
  • LB319 Veterinary Services & Consumables
• Crisis and disaster communications as well as community engagement services.
  • LB306 Marketing, Media, Print Services & Promotional Products
  • BUS309 Business Management & Consulting Services
• Asset condition assessments and audits.
  • LB280 Asset Management Services
• Surveying of damaged sites, building damage inspections and reports for replacement / safety and funding and insurance requirements.
  • LB335 Planning, Surveying, Design & Architectural Services
• Security services relating to emergency situations and crisis management.
  • LB289 Security Services, Equipment & Maintenance arrangement

As communities recover and learn from weather events, we need to shift our focus and start implementing preparation plans and recovery processes for the future. Building resilience in recovery efforts will help save time, reduce impact and create liveable and sustainable communities for the future.

While we all hope that it will be a long time before our community is required to deal with and respond to disaster, history shows us that it’s inevitable. That’s why it’s important to have disaster management and response plans in place for when the time arises. Being seen to respond rapidly to disaster and recovery reassures your community that council is active in their approach to rebuilding. Using Local Buy Arrangements as part of your response to disaster for any of the reasons listed above, will ultimately save you time, money and reduce your procurement risks through the streamlined procurement process.

If you work for council, please reach out to your dedicated Engagement Managers for assistance with disaster response and recovery: