VICTORIAN POLICY UPDATE | Regional procurement will grow. Get ready now.

For businesses supplying government, one of the most important questions is not just what is being announced but where the next procurement pipeline is forming.

Two recent Coalition commitments give a useful indication. The Victorian Liberals and Nationals have committed:

• $45 million for Hamilton Base Hospital, including a new emergency department and refurbished intensive care unit
• $180 million for Mildura Base Public Hospital, including an expanded emergency department, a new Medical Assessment and Planning Unit, a new 30-bed acute ward and 80 rooms of modular workforce accommodation

Together, that is $225 million in proposed regional health infrastructure investment across two projects alone. And the bigger signal is the Coalition's commitment to direct 25 percent of Victorian infrastructure spending to regional Victoria.

For businesses, that is the part worth watching closely.

What this means for procurement

These projects create opportunities well beyond major construction. The Mildura proposal alone points to potential demand across:

• construction and engineering
• modular accommodation
• project and program management
• medical equipment and clinical technology
• digital health and ICT
• security and access systems
• energy and building services
• furniture, fixtures and fit-out
• logistics and regional supply chains
• workforce services
• facilities management
• specialist professional and advisory services

Hamilton adds another layer of opportunity across emergency, intensive care and hospital redevelopment capability.

The lesson is simple: regional procurement is about to get much bigger.

The opportunity is broader than health

Health is where some of the clearest commitments are appearing now, but the same policy direction could flow through to transport, education, community infrastructure, digital services and other government investment.

That means companies should be looking at the pipeline, not just individual tenders.

Get ready now

The mistake is waiting until an RFP appears. By then, the project is already defined, the procurement pathway is established and departments have spent considerable time defining the market.

Businesses that want to compete should be asking now:

Where is the pipeline? Which regional projects are committed, which are emerging and which could move quickly after the election?

Who will buy? Will procurement sit with a department, health service, authority, delivery agency or another body?

What capabilities will be needed? Mildura, for example, is not simply a hospital expansion. It includes clinical infrastructure, workforce accommodation and potentially significant supporting services.

Who do you need to partner with? Regional delivery requires strong local partners, subcontractors, workforce providers and supply-chain capability.

Are you positioned early enough? Procurement is easier to navigate when your organisation understands the policy, stakeholders and likely requirements before the formal process begins.

At Stratagem Corporate Advisory, we help organisations understand where government investment is heading, map procurement and stakeholder pathways, identify emerging opportunities and position early.

If your business wants to compete for Victorian government work, particularly across regional infrastructure, health, technology or professional services, now is the time to get ready.

Contact Stratagem Corporate Advisory for a conversation.

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Originally published on LinkedIn, 14 September 2026.

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