Public Sector Procurement | Procurement Insights

Browsing All posts tagged under »Public Sector Procurement«

How to Handle Contract Disputes by Shené Commodore, CPCM

November 11, 2013

Editor’s Note: Over the past few months we have focused on the factors that have led to the high rate of failure of complex contracting relationships, as well as the challenges it poses in terms of engaging an increasingly cynical supply base. The latter is particularly true in relation to the public sector procurement process as […]

Disconnected policies in public sector spend: Ombudsman Minto’s policy review revisited (Part 2 of 2) by Jon Hansen

August 5, 2013

In Part 1 of today’s post, I talked about the consensus that public sector procurement is a critical tool in driving socioeconomic benefit. Referencing a number of articles by industry experts, it is clear that there is a universal acknowledgement that we have to do more in terms of leveraging public coffers in critical areas […]

Disconnected policies in public sector spend: A universal problem? (Part 1 of 2) by Jon Hansen

August 2, 2013

I read with great interest the recent Procurement Insights EU Edition post “A Living Wage” (July 30th, 2013) by Dr. Gordon Murray, and the corresponding follow-up commentary “Additional thoughts regarding the “Living Wage” question” (August 2nd, 2013) by Ian Burdon. In the summer of 2006, I chaired the Summit Roundtable that reviewed the critical elements […]

Welcome to The New Procurement Insights EU Edition

May 23, 2013

This past year has been somewhat of a watershed year for the Procurement Insights blog as well as its sister radio show The PI Window on the World. For example, we surpassed the 1,000 post mark with the blog that was launched with little fanfare in May 2007. That is a lot of “virtual ink” […]

Margaret Thatcher: An Insider’s Perspective by Colin Cram (Part 2)

April 15, 2013

Editor’s Note: Part 1 of this series was posted on Thursday, April 11th My report on procurement proposed more outsourcing and a team was set up to drive this forward. However, the government was unable to overcome resistance to it. By the time John Major had taken over, in 1991, my estimate was that much […]

The arrest of former president of SNC-Lavalin raises the question; Is the Government’s integrity policy based on the fruit of the poisonous tree principle? by Jon Hansen

April 12, 2013

News reports announced that “Pierre Duhaime, former president of SNC-Lavalin, was arrested at his Montreal-area home Wednesday on charges of fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and using forged documents.” While one may be inclined to simply shake their head at this most recent example of the avarice and moral decline of yet another corporate executive, […]

Review of UK Central Government Procurement Spend by Colin Cram

April 2, 2013

Whilst the UK government seems to be re-doubling its efforts to improve procurement by central government, the impact of the changes so far have been limited according to one Parliamentary body. Whilst parliamentary debates between the government and opposition parties tend to hit the headlines, much of the hard work of ensuring good quality legislation […]

Spend Matters Peter Smith’s Tesco rant misses the point by Jon Hansen

March 18, 2013

Just so I leave no room for misunderstanding, I have never been an advocate of the centralization of the procurement process in the public sector. Nor have I been lured into accepting the New Public Management or NPM mindset that automatically and without justification cedes procurement expertise and best practices to the private sector. The […]

Delivering Government Procurement Policies by Colin Cram

March 14, 2013

In the 1980s, a TV comedy programme in the UK achieved very high audience ratings. Margaret Thatcher, the then Prime Minister, was an avid fan. It was called ‘Yes, Minister!’ and viewers saw the hapless government minister pitched against the civil servants, led by ‘Sir Humphrey’, who did their best to undermine any ministerial policy […]

When it comes to public sector procurement, how often does the media erroneously waive the “corruption” banner? by Jon Hansen

March 13, 2013

Right out of the gate I want to stress that I know that there is no Santa Claus or that the Easter Bunny will not be hopping his way into our home to leave sweet treats for the family later this spring. I say this as a means establishing the fact that I am not […]