UK SME spending on the rise – but ‘ambition’ in question
Feb 6, 2020
The UK Cabinet Office has released its annual figures on how much Whitehall departments are spending with SMEs – both directly and indirectly – reports Diginomica. While SME spending is on the rise, now accounting for 25.7% of total procurement spend, previous years saw a decline, bringing into...
Open contracting and the EU in 2020: What to expect
Jan 30, 2020
Open Contracting Partnership expects 2020 to be a year of great strides towards opening up public procurement across the EU. “Even a slight shift of 1% in efficiency would save the EU around EUR 20 billion per year,” it says. The European Commission (and member states) will be laying out a...
AI Award for faster tech use in the UK NHS
Jan 30, 2020
The UK government has announced a £140m artificial intelligence (AI) award to be supported by the National Health Service (NHS) AI Lab to fast track testing and adoption of the most promising tools by the NHS.
“The Department of Health and Social Care is expected to invite applications for the...
The UK government has developed an AI playbook
Jan 30, 2020
The UK government has developed an AI playbook to help public sector decision-makers understand and deploy artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. It is has been produced by the Office for Artificial Intelligence (OAI) and the Government Digital Service (GDS).
The guide offers advice to public...
Should the public pay for the Big Ben Brexit Bells?
Jan 16, 2020
If you haven’t already heard, the UK government is having an unusual debate over whether Big Ben (which is undergoing renovation) should ring to commemorate Britain’s leaving of the EU at the end of January 2020. More to the point, the prime minister has suggested the money to pay for the clock...
Phishing most common reason cited for cyber data breaches in UK
Jan 16, 2020
Intelligent cyber security awareness platform CybSafe conducted research into the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) data on security breaches between 2017 and 2019. It found that in 2019 UK organisations reported more cyber security breaches to the ICO than ever before, even though with...
UK government approves US private equity firm takeover of UK defence and aerospace Cobham
Jan 16, 2020
The UK government has approved a US private equity firm’s takeover of UK defence and aerospace company Cobham, which employs 10,000 people and has extensive contracts with the British military and is known for its air-to-air refueling technology. While shareholders had previously approved US...
US and Europe’s Cyber Readiness Numbers Stall as Cyberattack Numbers Soar
Jan 9, 2020
Cyber insurance providing company, Hiscox, has produced a report on the number of cyberattacks that are growing across several verticals in the US and Europe, which have both seen a sharp surge. Cyber readiness, it finds, has come to a halt. The survey included nearly 5,400 private and public...
Public works contract challenges – first English court award of declaration of ineffectiveness
Jan 9, 2020
The upshot of a recent challenge to public contract awards is that they could become more likely in the future. As a result, contractors, funders and their advisers are being more cautious (therefore stalling contractual negotiation and jeopardising projects) and parties are increasingly exploring...
Measuring sustainability down the construction supply chain – the PQQ
Jan 9, 2020
An article on LocalGov, from the University of Surrey, explores whether the PQQ can be considered a valuable tool for managing sustainability in the supply chain. It considers sustainability data captured down the supply chain, from public and private sector clients down to raw material suppliers....
EU group offers guidance on meeting MDR’s cybersecurity standards
Jan 9, 2020
The European Commission’s Medical Device Coordination Group has published guidance on preparing manufacturers to meet both premarket and postmarket cybersecurity requirements under the EU’s new medical device regulations. Among the updates in the regulatory overhaul are new safety requirements...
AI and ML poised to play greater role in Nordics military systems
Dec 19, 2019
The rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is poised to play an ever-increasing role in the development of next-generation military systems, explains Computer Weekly. A report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says that nuclear-armed...
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Perspectives and Insights
We have some other written articles around the issues of lots and lotting (splitting up their contract requirements into smaller contracts), and …
One major trend over the past twenty years in public procurement has been the greater centralization of procurement activity. Conceptually and practically, collaborative procurement is …
Think you know all about public sector owned professional buying organisations (PBOs) and what they do? Here are ten interesting facts that might just surprise …
Policies and Regulations
A few months back, we published several articles about the very interesting – and somewhat shocking – court case around the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning …
The Procurement of Innovation Platform aims to make public procurement of innovation a widespread reality in Europe. The Platform has been developed to help public …
Why Evaluation in Public Procurement is Important If the phrase “bid evaluation” makes you cringe, don’t worry: you’re not alone. If …