Procurement Policy

Thanks for having your say!

We invited community feedback from 10 September to 8 October 2025. One submission was received. The policy was also workshopped with internal staff, and presented to both the Access and Inclusion Standing Committee and Strategy and Innovation Advisory Committee.

Key changes include:

The addition of our statement of business ethics into the policy, along with revisions of sections relating to supplier diversity and sustainability considerations.
The definition of Disability Employment Organisation has been updated to reflect contemporary requirements for employment of people with a disability.

The policy was adopted by Council on 18 November 2025. View the Council Report and adopted Procurement Policy.

Overview

City of Newcastle’s Procurement Policy provides a framework for the procurement of all goods, work and services. The Policy aims to ensure that all public monies is spent in accordance with the relevant Local Government legislation and in line with community objectives and expectations.

The Policy is used to support effective and evidence based decision-making. It contains roles and responsibilities, requirements, supplier diversity, sustainability, and financial authorisations.

All policies undergo regular review, typically within the first 12 months of a new Council term. The previous Procurement Policy was adopted by Council in 2022.

Only minor changes to the Policy were proposed.

These include updating role titles and responsibilities to reflect changes in the organisation that have occurred since the current Policy was adopted, amending the threshold for written quotes from $3,000 to $5,000 (to reflect increases in inflation), and ensuring alignment with the Instruments of Delegation to the CEO.

All proposed amendments are shown within the track changes version of the draft Policy.

Protecting your privacy

City of Newcastle is committed to protecting your privacy. We take reasonable steps to comply with relevant legislation and Council policy.

Purpose of collecting personal details: Council is collecting this information to determine the local community’s views and opinions on the document outlined.

Intended recipients: Information provided as part of the consultation will be used as part of the investigation into the document, and may be included in future reports on the issue.

Storage and security: Information provided will be stored on Council's database and will be subject to Council’s information and privacy policies.

Access: Individuals can access data to check accuracy by contacting Council.

View the adopted policy

Adopted - Procurement Policy 2025

Draft Policy Documents

Principles

The Policy is guided by the following principles:

Procurement and tendering processes will be open, clear, fully documented and defensible.

Procurement and tendering processes and business relationships will be conducted with honesty, fairness and probity at all levels.

Confidentiality of information will be maintained.

Procurement and tendering processes will be objectively assessed to ensure value for money by taking into account both price and non-price factors (including supplier risk and return on investment).

Consistent processes must be used in all stages of the procurement and tendering process.

Procurement and tendering processes will encourage competitive tendering and be open, fair, consistent and transparent and comply with the Local Government Act 1993, the Local Government (General) Regulation 2005, City of Newcastle’s Code of Conduct and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)’s Managing Conflicts of Interest in the Public Sector.

Procurement and tendering processes will seek to:

Purchase sustainable/green products and services that are designed for minimal, or positive, environmental impacts across their whole lifecycle;
Comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2018; and
Support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Procurement and tendering processes will seek to include suppliers from:

Local businesses
Aboriginal owned businesses
Disability employment organisations.

Procurement and tendering processes will ensure the protection of City of Newcastle staff and other persons against harm to their health, safety and welfare through the elimination or minimisation of risks.