Defence deals up for grabs

NORTH Queensland businesses are being urged to tender for Townsville defence contracts worth up to $8 million.

There will be 21 new contracts available, with the projects listed on Austender worth millions.

One project is worth between $4 million and $8 million, with another 10 worth between $1 million and $4 million, and an additional nine up to $1 million.

Townsville Enterprise chief executive Patricia O’callaghan said that defence was a significant contributor to the economy, employing more than 6500 personnel in the city.

“Under the Australia SMTI initiative, Singapore will invest about $1 billion to acquire, design, develop and construct and establish a new training area in North Queensland,” she said.

“This facility will support up to 14,000 Singapore Armed Forces personnel over 18 weeks a year for 25 years.

“Construction alone will be over $800 million and defence has committed to assessing the quality of tenders based on local content and we would expect to see that delivered.”

Ms O’callaghan said prioritising local businesses for the construction of the facilities and the development of this initiative should be at the centre of decision-making.

“It was positive to see some work packages being awarded to local businesses recently and of the companies so far engaged for design and construction, a Charters Towers-based company was contracted for fencing and signage work,” she said.

“With packages pipeline, businesses critical.”

Herbert MP Phillip Thompson said he encouraged all North Queensland businesses to visit the Defence Estate Works Program Management and Austender sites for opportunities.

“These projects include upgrades to buildings and important maintenance on existing facilities across multiple defence properties in our region, including Lavarack Barracks, RAAF Base Townsville and Ross Island Barracks,” he said.

“The works require a broad range of skill sets and supply chains and I know there are many local and small businesses that will be up to the task.

“We are bringing these works to the market to help our community with its recovery from the effects of COVID-19, so it’s important businesses plan ahead to be ready to tender.”

Interested businesses can visit defence.gov.au/estate management/lifecycle/estate Worksprogrammanagement. many more work coming down the supporting local for this work is