Local Jobs First Reporting: A Guide for Victorian Government Suppliers
Local Jobs First applies to Victorian Government projects from $1 million in regional Victoria and $3 million elsewhere. The thresholds, the Local Industry Development Plan, local content on Strategic Projects, what suppliers report, and the 2025 reforms that tied payment and future tenders to compliance.
The Short Answer
Local Jobs First (LJF) is the Victorian scheme set out in the Local Jobs First Act 2003 and the Local Jobs First Policy. It applies to Victorian Government projects of $1 million or more in regional Victoria and $3 million or more elsewhere. Bidders submit a Local Industry Development Plan (LIDP) with their local content and jobs commitments, those commitments become contract terms, and suppliers report against them during delivery and in a completion report due within 90 days of practical completion.
This guide covers who LJF applies to, what the LIDP commits you to, what reporting looks like, and how the 2025 reforms changed the consequences of falling short. Policy facts are taken from the Act and the official Local Jobs First guidance linked at the end. Always check the current guidelines and your contract.
What Is Local Jobs First?
The Local Jobs First Policy is made up of two parts: the Victorian Industry Participation Policy (VIPP), which covers local content and industry development, and the Major Projects Skills Guarantee (MPSG), which covers apprentices, trainees and cadets on large construction projects. It applies to Victorian Government departments and public bodies within the meaning of the Financial Management Act 1994. The Act provides for a Local Jobs First Commissioner, whose functions include promoting Local Jobs First and monitoring and reporting on compliance with Local Jobs First and LIDPs, backed by investigation and compliance notice powers.
The MPSG has its own guide: Major Projects Skills Guarantee reporting. For how LJF compares with local content policies in other states, see Local Content and Industry Participation Policies Across Australia.
Who Does Local Jobs First Apply To?
Section 3 of the Act defines the thresholds:
- Standard Project: $1 million or more for a project that benefits an area wholly in rural and regional Victoria
- Standard Project: $3 million or more for a project that benefits an area wholly outside rural and regional Victoria, or an area that covers both
- Strategic Project: a project with a budget of $50 million or more, or one the Minister declares a Strategic Project
On top of these, the MPSG applies to construction projects with a budget of $20 million or more and to all Strategic construction projects.
What Does Local Jobs First Require?
A Local Industry Development Plan
Anyone tendering for a Standard or Strategic Project must submit an LIDP. The plan must identify total content and local content for the project, along with the bidder's commitments. When the contract is awarded, the Act requires the contract to oblige the supplier to comply with Local Jobs First and with its LIDP, so the plan becomes a contractual commitment.
Minimum Local Content on Strategic Projects
Section 7B of the Act requires the Minister to set minimum local content for Strategic Projects, at no less than:
- 90% for a Strategic Project that is a construction project
- 80% for a Strategic Project that is a services or maintenance project
- 80% for the maintenance or operations phase of a Strategic Project
Evaluation Weightings
Section 7E of the Act requires agencies evaluating a tender for a Standard or Strategic Project to give a weighting of 10% to industry development, including VIPP commitments, and 10% to job outcomes, including MPSG outcomes where they apply. LJF commitments are therefore part of how the contract is won, not only how it is delivered.
What Does Local Jobs First Reporting Look Like?
Suppliers use the Victorian Management Centre (VMC) to submit LJF reporting during the project and their completion reporting, according to the Supplier Guidelines (July 2026). The guidelines require reporting to the agency on a six-monthly basis through the VMC, and the reporting periods are set out on the reporting obligations page. Under section 11B of the Act, a completion report is due not more than 90 days after practical completion.
In practice, reporting means showing actual local content and jobs outcomes against the LIDP commitments. That data sits with the head contractor and every trade partner and supplier whose spend and labour make up the local content figure, which is why it has to be collected through the supply chain rather than estimated at the end.
What Changed With the 2025 Reforms?
The Local Jobs First Amendment Act 2025 tightened compliance, with reforms commencing between August 2025 and 1 July 2026. The reforms page summarises them. The changes that matter most for reporting are:
- Payment tied to compliance: agencies must, unless impracticable or inappropriate, make their liability to pay contingent on compliance with LJF and the LIDP
- Deprioritisation: the Commissioner may issue a deprioritisation notice if a supplier misses the 90-day completion report deadline or fails to comply with any LIDP commitment
- Significant diversion: a supplier that is, or is likely to be, unable to meet its LIDP local content commitment must follow the significant diversion process
- Timing: deprioritisation does not apply to projects in delivery or out for tender before 1 July 2026
The Supplier Guidelines describe deprioritisation as lasting 6 to 18 months, with a tender evaluation deduction of between 5% and 20%. A missed completion report on one project can now affect the next bid.
How to Set Up Local Jobs First Reporting
- Treat the LIDP as a data specification: every commitment needs a metric, a source and an owner
- Flow local content and jobs reporting into every trade package and supply agreement before work starts
- Collect spend and labour data monthly, so the six-monthly VMC report is a roll-up of checked figures
- Keep evidence of where goods and services were produced and who was employed alongside each figure
- Track progress against each LIDP commitment from the first period, not just at completion
- Plan the completion report from mobilisation, because the 90-day deadline now carries deprioritisation risk
How Catchment Helps With Local Jobs First Reporting
Catchment's local content and participation hours reporting is built for exactly this flow. LIDP commitments are set up once, trade partners and suppliers submit spend and labour data against defined fields for free, and every figure keeps its evidence. Progress against each commitment is visible through delivery, so the six-monthly report and the completion report are assembled from data that has already been checked.
If you are delivering a Local Jobs First project, book a demo to see how your LIDP commitments would be set up.
Sources
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