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 […]
Entries by Peter Smith
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 […]
2022 – How Was It For You, CIPS?
The CIPS 2022 report and accounts are available now – and it was a difficult year for the Institute.
Why Isn’t Competition Working in the UK Petrol Market?
Why are prices so high in many countries, including the UK? Global forces and events are part of it, but there is increasing evidence that firms providing goods and services […]
PPE Dumped – An Unhappy Reminder
There was an unhappy reminder of the pandemic and the PPE Bad Buying saga recently when several hundred pallets of PPE (mainly aprons, it seems) were discovered apparently dumped in […]
Waste in Woking – Taxpayers will Pick up the Bill
Woking’s council has made disastrous property investments and taxpayers now face losses of hundreds of millions.