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Good afternoon

Thank you for your email in which you submitted an Official Information Act request as follows:

"Submissions provided to you relating to local government procurement in relation to recent Local Government Act reforms."

Minister Watts is considering your request in accordance with the Act, and you can expect a response by Monday 8 June 2026.

Kind regards,

Office of Hon Simon Watts
 
Minister of Climate Change
Minister of Local Government
Minister of Revenue
Minister for Auckland

Email: [Simon Watts request email]
Website: www.beehive.govt.nz  
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Miss M Quicken <[FOI #34670 email]>
Sent: Saturday, 9 May 2026 2:12 AM
To: Simon Watts (MIN) <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Tackling local govt enabled anti-competitive procurement

Dear Simon Watts,
Minister for Local Government

Information requested:

A) Submissions provided to you relating to local government procurement in relation to recent Local Government Act reforms

Please feel free to redact the particulars of the persons making the submissions as I only would use the content for my research on the regulatory reforms on private/public partnerships and it's impact on monopolies & cartels within the local government.

Background

Local government, through it's non-elected executive alone, can procure 10 year+ contracts (spanning multiple election cycles) relying on single individual (non-panel) providers enabling anti-competitive commercial environment that does not even need tenders.

It would be important to know what reforms are planned in the Local Government Act to ensure that commercial engagement from local government sector follows uniform procurement practices which would also include the spirit of the Part 2 of Commerce Act.

And currently nothing in the Local government act mandates either public consultation, legislative approval nor consultation with central government (e.g. commerce commission) when monopolies (infrastructure being prevalent) are created through executive of public entities.

Yours faithfully,

Miss M Quicken

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