Bad Buying in Birmingham?
England’s second largest city, Birmingham, is going bust, and there are allegations of dodgy procurement practices too.
Entries by Peter Smith
Too Soon for 30% Weighting for Social Value in Tenders
I spoke recently at the UK Universities Procurement conference and as usual, had some interesting conversations around the margins of my session. In one such discussion, a sustainability person from […]
Yet Again, a “Sophisticated” Fraud Hits the NHS
The UK’s National Health Service has for years been a “good” source of Bad Buying fraud and corruption stories. There are several reasons for that. Firstly, it is huge organisation, […]
Asahi Centralises Procurement – Will It Work?
Japanese brewer Asahi is setting up a new global procurement operation in Singapore, according to the Food Navigator Asia website. The target is to save $100 million a year from […]
UK Government Spend With Smaller Firms Declines
Without fanfare or comment, in the middle of the holiday season, the UK government recently published the data for spend with SMEs (small and medium enterprises) for 2021/22. This covers […]
How Competitive is UK Public Procurement?
A few weeks ago, the UK National Audit Ofice issued a report titled “Competition in public procurement – lessons learned”. Unlike most of that organisation’s reports, it wasn’t looking at […]
HS2 Rail Programme Rated as “Undeliverable” by Government’s Own Experts
I’ve decided that I’m going to win the 100 metres sprint at next year’s Paris Olympics. I believe the benefits for the UK economy will be huge and I will […]
Always Check Those Invoices!
The US Government Department of Justice recently issued a news release. “Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation has agreed to pay the United States $377,453,150 to resolve allegations that it […]
Don’t Be a “Bad Negotitor”
As it is the holiday season, here is a short extract from my Bad Buying book rather than a fresh article – taken from the chapter on negotiation. Nothing Else […]
Support to Disadvantaged Suppliers Attracts Fraudsters
Programmes to support minority owned businesses, smaller firms, social enterprises and the like via public sector procurement have become increasingly popular over recent years in many countries. The Social Value […]