Navigating Collaborative Procurement for New Zealand’s Water Reform

As New Zealand councils respond to the evolving water-services landscape, the focus is shifting from what’s changing to how we collaborate effectively. With the repeal of Three Waters and the introduction of the Local Water Done Well framework, councils must now deliver water, wastewater and stormwater services through new collaborative models — including council-controlled organisations (CCOs) and joint entities. In this context, efficient, transparent and well-governed procurement has never been more critical.

Procurement Challenges in a Collaborative Landscape

While collaboration provides scale, resilience and consistency, it also brings new layers of complexity. Councils engaging in joint procurement arrangements will need to navigate several emerging challenges:

Coordination Across Multiple Entities

When services are delivered through a CCO or shared entity, procurement must align diverse council priorities, governance structures, timelines and risk appetites. New Zealand’s local government ecosystem includes 67 territorial authorities and 11 regional councils — making collaboration a substantial coordination effort. Without shared governance frameworks and clear decision-making pathways, even straightforward sourcing becomes complex.

Managing Risk and Accountability

Shared procurement models bring shared risk. Many councils still lack the internal systems and expertise needed to manage complex, high-value or mission-critical procurements. As noted in sector reviews, readiness across the water sector is uneven, with capability gaps that heighten exposure to cost overruns, delays and compliance failures. Clear roles, escalation pathways and accountability frameworks are essential.

Capability Gaps Across Councils

Smaller councils — or procurement teams that manage high volumes with limited resources — may struggle to fully participate in sophisticated collaborative procurements. According to the Office of the Auditor-General NZ:

“Capability at the coalface is stretched. Many agencies are lacking in the skills and experience required to effectively manage even business-as-usual procurements.”

Ensuring all councils have equal access to procurement capability is fundamental to Local Water Done Well.

Compliance and Transparency Requirements

Public-sector procurement must remain transparent, consistent and audit-ready — even when delivered through new or experimental governance models. A 2022 assessment found significant gaps in procurement visibility across NZ:

“We do not have good information about the value our procurement expenditure is achieving or how it is contributing to our priorities.”

Maintaining auditability across tenders, contracts and suppliers is essential for public trust and cost governance.

Rising Infrastructure Investment Pressure

The scale of required water-infrastructure investment amplifies these challenges. Consider:

21.4% of drinking-water supplies did not meet full compliance in 2019–20.
Three-waters assets are valued at NZ$40–50B, but NZ$120–185B is needed over the next 30 years.
Only 25% of wastewater treatment plants are consent-compliant.
Some networks lose up to 20% of water through leakage.

With budgets tightening and service demands rising, procurement plays a pivotal strategic role.

Technology as a Catalyst for Collaboration

Digital procurement technology gives councils and CCOs a foundation for consistent, scalable and compliant collaboration across regions.

Digital Procurement Platforms

A modern platform enables councils to:

Run multi-council tenders with shared governance and documentation.
Manage supplier data centrally to reduce duplication and standardise panels.
Oversee contracts and performance across entities in one place.

This provides the structure needed for transparency and efficient collaboration.

Data-Driven Decision Making

With analytics built into sourcing and contract workflows, councils can:

Forecast future needs and procurement cycles across jurisdictions.
Analyse supplier performance across all participating councils.
Improve lifecycle planning for high-value infrastructure assets.

In a sector where data maturity has historically been low, advanced analytics is a major efficiency lever.

Shared Frameworks and Workflows

Configurable workflows allow joint entities to operate consistently without reinventing processes for each procurement event. Policy guardrails, mandatory checks, conflict-of-interest prompts and embedded guidance enable scalable, repeatable governance.

Contract Lifecycle Management

CLM tools provide:

A single source of truth across councils.
Visibility of milestones, renewals and compliance obligations.
Automated reminders to prevent contract lapses.

This ensures nothing falls through the cracks — essential in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.

Supplier Collaboration and Panels

With a digital marketplace and centralised supplier records, suppliers can pre-qualify once and be visible to multiple councils. This reduces administrative overhead and improves supplier engagement, especially for regional and specialist suppliers.

Looking Ahead: ALGIM and the Future of Water Services

As councils prepare for the 2025 ALGIM Annual Conference under the theme “Collaborating Beyond Council Boundaries,” procurement will be at the centre of how New Zealand implements water-services reform. Whether already part of a CCO or exploring shared-services models, now is the time to move towards scalable, resilient and transparent procurement practices.

Unimarket – Your Procurement Partner for the Water-Services Era

Unimarket brings more than a decade of experience supporting procurement transformation across Australia and New Zealand’s public sector. Originally built for councils under the VendorPanel brand, our platform has always been designed for multi-entity governance, collaborative frameworks, supplier inclusion and end-to-end procurement visibility.

With Unimarket, councils and CCOs can:

Streamline joint procurement operations across multiple councils.
Implement workflows and controls for shared sourcing and contract management.
Use dashboards and analytics to monitor spend, supplier performance and compliance.
Bridge capability gaps with guided processes and built-in governance.

If you're planning your roadmap for New Zealand’s water-services transition, now is the time to engage. Our team is already working with councils across the country to support readiness for the Local Water Done Well model.

Get in touch to explore how Unimarket can support your organisation through this next era of water-services delivery.