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Procurement decisions don’t fail inside procurement. They fail when real-world conditions hit them. That’s what we assess.
Fiscal realities and Government contracting (Part 4): Supplier cause and effect
September 9, 2011
It is a funny thing that as a writer when you put the virtual pen to paper you never really know what will or will not strike a note with your readers. All you can truly hope is that your passion for the subject matter coupled with sound research practices will prove worthy of consideration […]
Fiscal realities and Government contracting (Part 3): Compliance over Value?
September 8, 2011
Government contracting must be conducted in a manner that will: stand the test of public scrutiny and reflect fairness in the spending of public funds; respect operational requirements; support long-term industrial and regional development and other appropriate national objectives, including aboriginal economic development; and comply with the government’s obligations under the trade agreements. from the […]
Fiscal realities and Government contracting (Part 2): Understanding the purchasing connection
September 8, 2011
The drop in real estate values and its impact on property taxes is easy to envision. But that’s just part of the problem. Deeper seated is linkage between housing construction, and the many ways that home sales and building activity affect state and local government revenues. from the November 2010 Governing magazine article “The Housing […]
With postmaster general Patrick R. Donahoe’s somewhat desperate plea to congress to bail out the listing and outdated agency, what impact does the USPS’ precarious financial situation have on supplier relations?
September 5, 2011
The United States Postal Service is a federal agency, like the other 125 agencies that make up the federal government; so by definition it operates at a deficit. It is partially funded by proceeds from the sale of mail delivery and associated services but it is also funded in the millions through the OMB for […]
Procurement Contests Review 3-Part Series
September 5, 2011
Just a quick not to my readers . . . For those who may have missed one of the posts in last week’s 3-Part Procurement Contests Review series, I have created a dedicated page that will provide you with easy access to each post as well as provide you with a venue through which you […]
Government procurement contests (Part 3): A question of (IP) ownership
September 1, 2011
NOTE: The following is an article that was originally published on August 7th, 2008 under the heading Finding the hidden Intellectual Property (IP) value in procurement contracts. While it focused on the unique services of the Future Path organization, its resonance relative to the emergence of procurement contests – especially within the public sector, is […]
Government procurement contests (Part 2): When innovative ideas collide . . .
August 31, 2011
Gèrard Quenneville, an Aylmer engineer who is acting as a liaison between the company and the city on the file, says, “The proposal deserved to be studied in depth.” Mr. Quenville notes Alpine Energy had been working for four years on the proposal. Both Mr. Quenville and Mr. Carrière met with Mayor Marc Bureau the […]
Are procurement contests just another way for government to pass the innovation buck to a preferred outside vendor?
August 30, 2011
The basic idea of a procurement contest — sometimes called a prize or challenge — is to set out a performance requirement for a capability that needs development work and offer a prize, usually money, for the first or best entity to produce a product or capability meeting the requirement. from the Contracting Education Academy […]
Dangerous Supply Chain Myths: Talent Attraction White Paper
August 24, 2011
“A supply chain is not an abstract network driven by processes and machines, but a real network driven by people. Good supply chains run on good people. Supply Chain Success will be impossible without the right talent, which is becoming rarer every day thanks to the global talent war. Any organization that does not have […]
Procurement Insights 
Don’t sweat the small stuff? Why industry experts point to Indirect Material Spend as an important reservoir of untapped savings!
September 12, 2011
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With regard to costs, the conventional wisdom is that procurement should focus principally on the “big ticket” areas of spend, such as raw materials and energy. And, you certainly should devote attention to raw materials and energy – not just to reduce costs, but also to reduce volatility through better risk management. But, if you […]