International News

In a release issued earlier this week Transparency International Romania says “Given the many questions and suspicions raised both in the country and internationally about the award of various contracts with public funds under the pretext of the state of emergency, Transparency International...

Global Compliance News reports that the current climate surrounding the COVID-19 crisis requires a significant level of flexibility in contractual relationships. To provide flexibility, the public procurement process has been accelerated to help reduce deadlines for submission request. Permitting...

  An article from the collaboration between The European Sting with the World Economic Forum explains how the Covid-19 pandemic has thrown into sharp focus the shortcomings of public-private healthcare procurement systems. This crisis presents an opportunity to learn and to reshape these...

The need for rapid response to the COVID-19 crisis has caused many departments to accelerate changes and deliver them in a matter of hours and days, which might have taken years to deliver in normal circumstances. During lockdown, when we have borne witness to an unprecedented surge in remote...

Small businesses are struggling with debt during the pandemic. Across Europe, businesses are facing insolvency due to declines in revenue and delayed payment. One UK report argues a fifth of SMEs in the UK will collapse due to a lack of cash because of Covid-19. Separate research by the...

As the country continues to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, testing remains one of the keys to mitigating the virus and reopening the economy.  The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been rapidly reviewing and approving Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) in order to ensure adequate...

The UK 100% publicly owned YPO has announced the launch of its new Drones and Associated Products and Services framework for the emergency service and the wider public sector. The first of its kind. Last year YPO was approached by the Home Office to discuss a gap in public procurement....

Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched a new search website powered by machine learning that can help researchers quickly and easily search tens of thousands of research papers and documents using natural language questions. The Allen Institute for AI (AI2) released the CORD-19 dataset (COVID-19 Open...

Compliance Week writes that European businesses may be putting themselves at risk because they mistakenly believe regulators are prepared to loosen the rules, lower the compliance burden, and lessen enforcement so companies can operate more easily as the coronavirus pandemic lingers on. Three areas...

According to The Guardian, human rights groups warn that the UK government must not ignore the “slave-like” conditions of migrant workers making rubber medical gloves in Malaysia in its rush to source protective equipment to keep frontline NHS staff safe from coronavirus. “Malaysia is the...

Public Spend Forum is directly supporting government professionals and healthcare workers to address critical shortages for ventilators, respirators, personal protective equipment (PPE) and more, by providing free data on suppliers and inventory on GovShop. Reporter Melissa Mollet from NBC...

The European Commission has set out guidance that is relevant EU-wide and also in the UK during the Brexit transitional period (which runs to 31 December 2020) explaining the flexibility allowed under the rules in situations of procurement in extreme urgency. Purchases that are subject to public...