All Learning Content
A Classic Tale Of Terrible Public Procurement
Jan 26, 2018
The UK Ministry of Justice has been slammed by the influential Public Accounts Committee for its disastrous electronic tagging programme, branding it a “catastrophic waste of public money” – reports diginomica. Electronic monitoring allows the police, courts or probation services to monitor...
Hungary – Inquiry Into Contract Awards Without Competition
Jan 26, 2018
Hungarian prosecutors have ordered an inquiry into a company once co-owned by the Prime Minister’s son-in-law. A two-year investigation by the EU anti-fraud office found a series of irregularities at the company. 35 public lighting modernisation projects had been won by the company between 2011...
SmallGovCon Week In Review: January 22-26, 2018
Jan 26, 2018
Next week, I’m off to Nashville for the National 8(a) 2018 Small Business Conference. If you plan to attend the conference, please swing by the Koprince Law LLC booth to say hello and check out copies of Government Contracts Joint Ventures, our recently-published handbook for contractors....
Buying Procurement Technology? Listen to Gary Lambert’s Advice
Jan 25, 2018
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Last week we re-launched our podcasting channel with a new series called Public Procurement Leaders. In each episode, Chairman and CEO of Public Spend Forum Raj Sharma sits down with leaders from the public and private sector to get their perspectives and insights.
Given our recent work...
NAO on Commercial & Contract Management (Final Insight)
Jan 24, 2018
Around a year ago, the UK’s National Audit Office issued a very useful document titled “Commercial and contract management: insights and emerging best practice”. We did provide an initial overview of it here, and now we are into a more detailed review of its content and findings. For each of...
More Proof That Government Innovation Can Come From Anywhere
Jan 24, 2018
In 2016 I wrote about a fascinating innovation in the French railway system, which had started placing pianos in many big train stations and simply inviting members of the public passing by to play tunes on them, resulting in an improved customer experience. What struck me, I wrote then, was that...
PEPPOL – Is Your Business Ready?
Jan 24, 2018
As we reported in our latest news roundup, Ireland’s Minister of State with special responsibility for Public Procurement, has signed an agreement with OpenPEPPOL. ‘As a PEPPOL Authority member, Ireland will participate in the development and governance of the PEPPOL network. Ireland will now...
Small Business GAO Bid Protests Are Less Successful
Jan 23, 2018
GAO bid protests filed by small businesses are (statistically speaking) less likely to succeed than protests filed by large contractors, according to the RAND Corporation’s recent bid protest study.
The disparity isn’t the result of discrimination against small businesses, but rather a product...
Public Sector Procurement – Delivering Value Fairly
Jan 23, 2018
“Encourage public-sector bidders to push technical boundaries but don’t expect a lowest cost/higher risk commercial strategy will deliver it.”
Private sector companies exist to make and grow profit. The public sector spends ever-decreasing budgets on an ever-increasing list of requirements....
2018 NDAA: Changes to the HUBZone Program
Jan 23, 2018
The HUBZone program has received its fair share of coverage on our blog, from recommended changes in the 35% employee-location requirement to SBA regulatory updates to the program. Well, the HUBZone program is once again undergoing some changes thanks to the 2018 National Defense Authorization...
A Critique of Private Finance Initiative
Jan 22, 2018
The UK’s Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is being blamed as one of the causes behind the collapse of Carillion. PFI generally involved (and still involves) firms or consortia constructing an asset and then running it for a substantial period of time, then being paid for delivering a...
Don’t Buy Procurement Technology Without Hearing This First
Jan 20, 2018
Technology solutions hold much promise for public sector organizations, but without smart procurement practices these business opportunities won’t attract the best suppliers in the procurement technology marketplace.
This was a theme shared by Eliza Niewiadomska and others during a convening...
