Cooperative Procurement

From Competition to Collaboration: How Local Businesses Won Big Through Cooperative Procurement

In a market where small businesses often compete fiercely for limited government and council contracts, a quiet shift is transforming the game. Across Australia, cooperative procurement—where multiple agencies join forces to purchase goods and services collectively—is creating new pathways for local suppliers to scale, collaborate, and thrive.

Once seen as a system favouring large corporations, government procurement is becoming more inclusive. This evolution is offering small and medium enterprises (SMEs) a chance to move from head-to-head competition to shared success.