The poor performance of the UK economy means that the public sector procurement expenditure of around £230 billion a year will increasingly be seen as a possible route to salvation. So it would not be surprising if the following phrases and policies become increasingly familiar. (more…)
Last week, Francis Maude was in Cambridge to launch Solutions Exchange, a new website intended to connect buyers and suppliers to discuss potential ways of working together. (more…)
The implications of two recent headlines appear to have escaped the procurement profession’s attention. One news story was the UK government expects to save more than £5 billion this year after a round of “tough contract negotiations” with suppliers. The other was that according to the National Fraud Authority, procurement fraud is costing the public sector £2.3 billion. (more…)
It’s all over the news this morning about Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude making his jerry can comment – that to prepare for the oil tanker strike, people should store petrol at home (even though a jerry can holds 20 litres, which is above the limit of fuel that can be stored at home). Maude runs the risk of perhaps being too honest. He, like other ministers, needs to think carefully about the message being sent. (more…)
I had the pleasure to attend the second day of Procurex National in Birmingham, at which the Rt Hon Francis Maude MP set the scene for the next few years in public sector procurement. And what a scene he set. A powerful speaker with a lot of charisma, he sounded like he meant business in more than a figure-of-speech way. (more…)
Happy budget eve readers!
Tomorrow is the day when the spotlight shines on George rather than Dave as he reflects on how things have gone in the last 12 months and lays out plans for government spending over the next year. (more…)
Following Francis Maude’s statement to public sector buyers on a ‘presumption against competitive dialogue’, you could be forgiven for being a little confused.
Competitive dialogue has always been an exception route, to be used only where the open and restricted procedures cannot generate the required outcome or where the authority does not know the detail of what it wants to buy (and how) in advance. Nothing new in the most recent statement, then? (more…)
Ahead of my blog reacting to the full report from Sir Philip Green published later today, please find a couple of teasers below…
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