Track and Trace – Serco Won’t Tell Us Who Is Doing The Work
Private Eye always has some interesting stories, and its coverage of the pandemic has been exemplary – its medical writer has given some of the best advice and most balanced […]
Entries by Peter Smith
HS2 Construction Starts – The Money Pit Gets Deeper
Construction of the HS2 high-speed railway network in England started formally last week. Some will be cheering – not me. At a time when working patterns have been changed because […]
Scoring Supplier Bids and Proposals – Yes, Even That Can Lead to Bad Buying!
It is easy to go wrong when evaluating and scoring supplier bids, and the consequences can be serious.
Care Homes in the UK and Beyond – Bad Buying by Omission
One of the first disasters of the current Covid crisis in the UK was the transfer of thousands of people out of hospitals into nursing and care homes, without checks […]
Fraud, Charities and Steve Bannon – Where’s the Money Going?
The arrest of Steve Bannon, President’s Trump ex-adviser, hit the headlines this week. Along with several other men, he is accused of siphoning off funds that were given to a […]
Ayanda Capital Facemasks Contract – Were Basic Procurement Principles Forgotten?
It is a while since I wrote about the PPE (personal protective equipment) process in the UK government and health sector, but the stories continue to emerge and some are […]
The Explosion in Beirut Highlights Major Procurement and Supply Chain Failings
The explosion and resulting disaster in Beirut this week is a tragedy for all the people affected and for the entire city, as well as for the country of Lebanon. […]
Health Minister in Zimbabwe Arrested Over Alleged PPE Procurement “Fraud”
All over the world, medical staff have struggled to find enough PPE (personal protective equipment) to meet their needs and protect themselves in a time of pandemic. The problems have […]
Satellite of Love? The Perm Sec Doesn’t Think So…
A ”Ministerial Direction” sounds like a very dry and boring aspect of civil service bureaucracy, but that is far from the case. It happens when a government Minister in the […]
Want Some Cheap Consulting? How the Big Firms Game the Supplier Selection Processs
Psssttt! Wanna buy a cheap consultant? Top quality, only £20 a day. Or, tell you what, you can have some for a tenner if you like. Yeah. Just £10 a […]