Procurement is in the firing line for public sector project disasters, says Lindsay Clark, but often the blame lies elsewhere

Filed under:
General, Public sector by Lindsay Clark

If we all want to fulfil the real strategic potential, we should be asking: “What is strategic procurement? And are we ready to be strategic?”


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Business change, General, Purchasing by Dave Henshall

Listening to John Collington speak at a conference yesterday, I really got a sense (for the first time) that the highest levels in government are deadly serious about making huge procurement savings. As he put it: “There has never been a better time to shine for the procurement profession. It is up to us to take advantage of it within a very short period.”

Filed under:
General by Steve Bagshaw


I have recently been away on holiday, and the question of “Do I take my laptop or BlackBerry?” was raised once again. For me there was not much debate, I simply did not take either. But to others my decision would be inconceivable.

Filed under:
Careers, General by Alison Smith

Last night I went to see a play. Bully for you, I hear you say. Bear with me… It was about family, war, loss, relationships – but essentially it was about business.

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General, Purchasing by Rebecca Ellinor

I’m going to set you a challenge. This won’t be easy and there may not be a definitive answer, but here goes anyway. What should we call our profession? I’m asking the whole readership because in the near six years I have been on SM, I have heard this discussed on numerous occasions yet there [...]

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General by Steve Bagshaw

We cannot comment on why the National Audit Office did not accept some of the savings claimed by Firebuy for fire risk safety items, without knowing the benchmarks. But the problems of Firebuy are typical of similar consortiums in the health service, local government and police.

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Soapbox by Allan Robertson

At the risk of sounding like a Daily Mail cliché of a Guardian reader, I thought I would  share with you a debate I had with some friends about buying local produce.

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First person by Sam Covell

Stand back, make way – it’s the police coming through. But hold on a minute, what’s this chugging into view? . . . A tractor, with blue light flashing and everything.

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Home Truths by Home Truths

Shaun McCarthy discusses why the term “carbon-neutral company” is “the least credible phrase of the decade”

Filed under:
Sustainability by Shaun McCarthy