The Queensland Government has confirmed a major reset of its procurement system, officially scrapping the paused BPIC framework and replacing it with a new Queensland Procurement Policy (QPP) 2026.  This will take effect from 01 January 2026.

And the best part?  Small, family and regional businesses are now front-and-centre.

The new government project procurement policy promises:

• A strong push for local procurement, including a new 30% target for QLD small and medium enterprise (SME) participation
• Less red tape and simpler tendering
• A more supportive compliance approach
• A shift toward innovation and practical value-for-money, including consideration of whole-of-life costs and non-financial factors such as experience and capacity.

These reforms are a strong step toward the red tape reduction MEA has long championed. We welcome the Queensland Government’s commitment to simplifying procurement and creating fairer access for small businesses.

In that same spirit, MEA has also advocated to the Queensland Productivity Commission for a single, standardised subcontractor pre-qualification process, a ’complete it once, use it everywhere’ model recognised across all government projects. This simple shift would meaningfully reduce duplicated paperwork and further support small contractors to compete for government work. As the new QPP framework rolls out, we encourage the Queensland Government to consider this approach as a practical extension of its red tape reduction agenda. You can read more about our advocacy on the matter here.

MEA commends the Government for listening to industry and moving to support smaller operators who often struggle to match the resources of larger firms. For many small electrical contractors who’ve long felt locked out of government projects, these changes signal a genuine shift toward a fairer and more accessible system.

MEA will continue monitoring the rollout and advocating to ensure the policy delivers the intended benefits for our members.

You can read more about the new Queensland Procurement Policy here.