Scotland’s Commercial Director and Chief Procurement Officer Alastair Merrill becomes a regular PI EU Edition Columnist by Jon Hansen

When Colin Cram and I first talked about launching the new Procurement Insights European Union Edition, one of the first questions we asked ourselves is “how can we be different.”

I am not talking about a new marketing angle or an esthetically pleasing visual experience – although the blog format does have a certain appeal.  What we were really looking at is how we could provide a new and different take on the procurement world across the pond.  Something more than simply adding our opinions to what is already a mercurial mix of contentious debates and diametrically opposed directional visions.

Within this context the answer seemed clear . . . create a venue through which some of the EU’s leading voices of influence could share their views and insights on stories that are making the headlines.  In this regard, neither Colin nor I were looking for individuals with whom our opinions would necessarily align.  In fact we are of the belief that when you create a forum that welcomes differing even contradictory perspectives, you are in reality providing a vehicle through which a more meaningful and productive understanding of a particular issue can be gained.  This is ultimately the starting point for finding true solutions.  It is also an approach that represents the inherent value of the venue itself – or in this case blog.

In addition to pursuing these journalistic values or ideals, we also realized that we would have to look beyond the usual industry pundits to provide these new insights.  In other words we did not want to seek out those covering the industry but, those who are being covered.  The real news-makers and agents of change.  Individuals who are actually driving policy as opposed to merely writing about policy.

This is the reason why we are delighted to welcome Scotland’s Commercial Director and Chief Procurement Office Alastair Merrill as a regular contributor to the Procurement Insights EU Edition blog.  With Alastair, we have taken this all important first step towards providing our readers with an unprecedented insiders view into the minds of the innovators that are driving procurement reform and evolution.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be announcing the addition of other top caliber professionals as contributing columnists who collectively, will  make the Procurement Insights EU Edition blog the definitive and most reliable procurement news source in the UK and the European Union as a whole.

In the meantime, I would like to invite you to check out Alastair’s inaugural post Public Procurement in Scotland: a short history.

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