Excerpt from article:

Western Australian government contracts up to $5 million can now be signed directly with local manufacturing companies without a competitive tender, following a procurement rule exemption that quietly came into effect this week.

Prior to the new procurement direction, only contracts worth up to $50,000 could be directly sourced.

The new $5 million threshold for local manufacturing suppliers puts Western Australia well ahead of other states and the federal government in a fresh effort to get more out of the state’s $30 billion annual procurement spend.
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StartupWA advocates for the local startup sector, and wants to see procurement opened up to more local startups and innovators. This change in policy is a good move. Time will tell as to how effective it will be.

Article (paywall): InnovationAus, Brandon Howe. 15 January 2025.
https://www.innovationaus.com/wa-manufacturers-get-5m-procurement-fast-lane/