Unimarket and LGP: Why it Makes Sense for Councils

Through the Local Government Procurement (LGP) and Unimarket partnership, LGP provides their customers with access to Unimarket's Go to Market platform enabling an efficient way to engage with approved contractors to seek requests for quotes.

Unimarket is a Source-to-Contract platform designed with government in mind, enabling efficiency, probity, compliance, and value on public spend. It is used by every council across Australia due to its ease-of-use, intuitive workflows, reporting capabilities and best practice enablement.

Unimarket offers an easier, faster, and more targeted way of assisting buyers to select the best available vendors for each procurement activity. The platform handles more than just the approach to market, with supplier discovery and management, response evaluation and award all taken care of. Reporting and analytics tools provide detailed, data-driven insights that go far beyond spend analysis.

Through this partnership the goal for LGP is to save NSW councils buyers’ time, money, and effort by providing them with approved contractors, enabling buyers to get the job done efficiently, professionally and within budget.

Why it works

Unimarket is an Australian-owned business that was created to help make procurement simple, fair and a force for good for local government across the country. LGP is a business owned by LGNSW, established specifically to assist NSW councils to save money and time through more efficient and effective procurement practices.

LGP was Unimarket’s first customer following the business’ inception in 2010 and they remain trusted partners to this day. This long-standing partnership is due to LGP and Unimarket’s shared goal of enabling more efficient and compliant procurement processes, ultimately driving better value on public procurement spend.

The team at LGP have in-depth practical knowledge that has come from working in a wide range of industries and projects to drive ongoing progress of local government communities. LGP is an innovative leader in local government procurement and their partnership with Unimarket helps them to deliver high-value procurement solutions.

And with the ever-increasing focus on using public spend for good, Unimarket’s tools are designed to make engaging with local and social suppliers a rewarding part of any sourcing event, not a laborious one.

How we know the partnership is a success

Every council in NSW is accessing LGP Contracts via Unimarket. 65% of NSW councils have found so much value in using Unimarket and LGP panels that they have upgraded their license to be able to use the Go to Market platform for all sourcing, from simple, low value RFxs to complex tenders.

These councils enjoy visibility, compliance, and probity on all procurement activity as well as an average of 9.75% cost-avoidance across all spend done through the platform. Each council also has a dedicated Australian-based Customer Success representative and an Account Manager to help them in maximising platform usage and planning for ongoing enhancements in sourcing and contract management.

But if you still have some concerns with utilising LGP panels and Unimarket, explore some of the common misconceptions about the partnership and the impact on you.

LGP and Unimarket myths debunked

1. It's not easy to use Unimarket

Unimarket is the procurement platform designed for non-procurement professionals, meaning that users do not need to be (and usually are not) procurement specialists. The platform is configurable, flexible and can be integrated with existing tech platforms to make transitioning to and executing on the platform as simple and streamlined as possible.

From an end-user perspective, Unimarket is designed to be easy-to-use, featuring an intuitive interface and simple-to-follow workflows. Users have noted that adoption is quick and takes little time to feel comfortable in the platform.

LGP uses Unimarket to provide access to all supplier and contract documentation, so buyers only need to go to Unimarket to find all the information they need to seek quotes through LGP panels.

2. It's more time consuming to use Unimarket over my own process

Increased efficiency is a significant benefit of using an automated platform, like Unimarket, for procurement. In a survey of Unimarket users it was noted that using the Go to Market platform saves buyers an average of 4.5 hours per RFx in comparison to manual processes, like gathering quotes via email and management of procurement activity and suppliers in spreadsheets.

Additionally, LGP estimates that for every panel that a council accesses, buyers save around 100 hours per year avoiding a tender process, and 50 hours per year in contract administration effort.

3. The process is too simple, there might be associated risk

It’s actually the opposite. Unimarket is built with public entities and regulated bodies in mind, meaning probity, compliance and risk reduction are paramount.

Instead of quotes being hidden in emails or folders, using a centralised platform provides visibility of the full sourcing process across all buyers. This means all activity is tracked, recorded and reportable – helping eliminate a lot of risk that is associated with manual and siloed procurement activity.

Simplicity doesn’t mean riskiness in this case.

4. I don't have support if I need it when using Unimarket

Unimarket has an award-winning support team and a large catalogue of support material available to all users to ensure queries and concerns are addressed quickly and effectively. 

With an average response time of only 90 seconds through Unimarket’s live chat, most queries will be addressed almost immediately, meaning users can get back to what they were doing with minimal disruption to their process. And if a query can’t be resolved there and then the team will pass it along to another team member who will be able to assist.

The Unimarket Support team was named as the winners of the Service Excellence in a Small Contact Centre at the CSIA Australian Service Excellence Awards 2023. So, Unimarket users are in good hands!

Additionally, LGP Customers have access to the LGP Business Development Team, including dedicated Business Development Managers who are experts in how to use LGP panels within Unimarket. The partnership between Unimarket and LGP means that NSW council buyers are never on their own.

5. I get less value when I buy through LGP panels

Analytics in the Unimarket platform have shown that councils achieve 14% cost-avoidance on average when using LGP panels in comparison to only 8% cost-avoidance for the same categories when sourcing outside of LGP panels, based on self-reporting by councils.

LGP strives to collaborate with contractors that are going to deliver projects within designated timeframes, to a high standard and to enable value to councils.

6. Using LGP panels won't support my local or social supplier engagement goals

LGP has undertaken a modern slavery risk assessment across all its panel contracts. This risk assessment is refreshed annually to ensure the information remains current. The intent of the risk assessment is to assist councils (when purchasing under LGP Contracts) to undertake reasonable steps to ensure the goods and services they procure are not a product of modern slavery. This enables councils who purchase through the contracts to better meet legislative and ethical obligations related to modern slavery.

LGP has worked with councils throughout regional NSW to engage with their local suppliers and have them available through LGP panels. Over one in four LGP-approved suppliers are located in regional NSW and during FY23 councils spent $53M with suppliers located within their Local Government Area. LGP customers can also use filter tags when engaging with approved contractors to identify and select suppliers that can service a specific region within NSW.