Ofcom Breaks Own Procurement Rules
Nov 2, 2017
The UK communications regulator Ofcom has concluded that it broke its own procurement rules when a contract was awarded to a lobbying firm run by two former Labour special advisers and an ex Plaid Cymru AM – reports Wales Online. The company concerned had been contracted by Ofcom Wales to monitor...
Apply Now – Free Assistance for ICT Innovation Procurements
Nov 2, 2017
European public procurers can get concrete help in preparing their innovation procurements. Assistance is available for free to those who intend to start PCP and PPI (pre-commercial procurements and public procurements of innovation) to bring ICT-based solutions to market. This is an initiative of...
Highways England New Procurement Approach
Nov 2, 2017
Chief Executive of Highways England, Jim O’Sullivan, has revealed the highways body is looking at new ways to award work based on contractor performance as part of its new procurement model. We read in New Civil Engineer that contractors could be judged by the client on how well a scheme is...
FEMA Chief Says Agency Did Not Approve Controversial Whitefish Contract
Nov 1, 2017
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) spoke to Congress, offering testimony that also criticized the $300 million Whitefish contract in Puerto Rico. FEMA Administrator Brock Long told the Senate homeland security committee there was “a lot wrong” with the controversial $300...
OpenDataSoft Targets Mid-Sized Cities with 500 New City Portals
Nov 1, 2017
OpenDataSoft, a private software company specialized in transforming structured data into API and visualizations, has released city-specific sites featuring publicly available data using the Amazon Web Services platform. The initiative, called Open Data America, is set to release data portals for...
Protest of Approved-Source Restriction Must Be Filed Before Proposal Deadline
Oct 30, 2017
I was grocery shopping the other day, and I had to make the tough choice between the name-brand cereal and the store-brand cereal. I don’t know about you, but with some products, the name brand has a certain flavor that the store brand just can’t replicate. When it comes to government...
GAO’s Decision to Charge $350 Per Filing Could Stop Unnecessary Protests
Oct 30, 2017
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) plans to start assessing a fee for vendors filing complaints beginning in March 2018. Ralph White, the managing associate general counsel for procurement law for GAO, said the agency is developing a new electronic protest docket system and will move...
Presumptive Awardee Ineligible to Challenge Solicitation Terms, Says GAO
Oct 30, 2017
If you’re a winner under a solicitation, you can’t challenge the ground rules under which you won–at least under the facts of a recent GAO bid protest decision.
In that decision, GAO concluded that the protestor of a solicitation’s terms lacked standing when the protester was subsequently...
Puerto Rico Moves to Cancel Controversial Whitefish Power Contract
Oct 30, 2017
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) said it will cancel the $300 million contract with Whitefish Energy, the small Montana-based company, to restore power to the storm-hit U.S. territory after uproar over the deal. The initial decision was met with concerns after it was revealed the...
GSA RFI Explores DUNS Number Replacement
Oct 27, 2017
The General Services Administration (GSA) issued a request for information on the future of entity identification and validation services that could replace the expiring contract with Dun & Bradstreet, which expires next year. The government’s use of Dun & Bradstreet’s DUNS number as their...
SmallGovCon Week In Review: October 23-27, 2017
Oct 27, 2017
After a 30-degree shift in temperatures here in Lawrence overnight, I think it is safe to say fall has officially arrived. The kids and I will be adding some extra layers while we go trick-or-treating on Tuesday evening.
Candy is on the agenda next week, but today’s treat is the...
Better Public Building Award for New Scotland Yard
Oct 26, 2017
The new headquarters of the UK Metropolitan Police has won a Better Public Building Award, made by the Prime Minister. The award is for publicly funded building projects which offer value for money. It moved into the new headquarters in late 2016, having previously occupied the same building...
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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 …