A report will be coming back to city council in the near future examining the potential for prioritizing local businesses or products in the City of Moose Jaw’s purchasing policy.
Coun. Patrick Boyle originally put forward the following motion:
“That the city’s purchasing policy be updated to include local preference and/or community benefit component for all procurements by the City of Moose Jaw, and further that a report regarding updates to the purchasing policy be presented to executive committee by June 23, 2025.”
However, the wording raised concerns among some councillors. While Boyle clarified that the intent was to have city administration report back on what such a policy might look like, some felt the motion implied the purchasing policy must be changed immediately.
To preserve the spirit of his motion, Boyle introduced a new motion to refer the matter to city administration for a report.
“Looking at this from the perspective of the current climate and where we’re at in the world today, I think we need to put a preference on Moose Jaw and Moose Jaw companies and our businesses that do business here. This is not uncommon across other areas,” Boyle said.
Taking it a step further, Boyle said Moose Jaw companies often struggle to compete in the bidding process in other municipalities, and a change to the city’s policy could help level the playing field.
“You can talk to Moose Jaw companies who try to bid on jobs in other cities. They see this all the time, where you are five points behind another business who's in that municipality. We, for some reason, don’t have that or recognize that fully,” he said.
Director of Financial Services Brian Acker said emphasizing local procurement has both advantages and disadvantages.
He explained that local companies already have some natural advantages, such as lower freight costs and no need to pay for employee travel or accommodations, which can increase costs for out-of-town businesses.
However, Acker added that heavily favouring local businesses could limit the number of bids received and reduce access to new technology or services available elsewhere.
“Once you get into a buy-local approach, you potentially eliminate some of the innovation and quality that you get in a wider, broader procurement process,” he said.
Coun. Chris Warren suggested enhancing the evaluation process by assigning greater weight to local businesses, such as using local preference to break ties in bids, but said it shouldn’t be the only deciding factor.
Warren also noted that this approach aligns well with the city’s recently passed tariff management policy.
Council passed the referral motion unanimously.