The UN environment programme
Feb 19, 2021
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is a “global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate...
Opportunities for SMEs and new suppliers to engage with the UK defence industry
Feb 19, 2021
The latest opportunities for small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and new suppliers to engage with the defence industry have been announced by Dstl (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory). The opportunities are for businesses to help improve armoured vehicles.
Dstl is hosting two...
UK public procurement fragmentation: green paper and frameworks
Feb 12, 2021
The UK government’s green paper Transforming public procurement “fails to live up to its title,” explains CIPS. Colin Cram, a consultant who was a founding member of the government’s Central Unit on Purchasing – a forerunner of the Efficiency and Reform Group — said the proposals...
Free training to help SMEs secure more future contracts
Feb 12, 2021
UK big transport firms, HS2, Highways England, Network Rail and Transport for London, have joined forces in encouraging SMEs to register for free training courses designed to improve their prospects of meeting equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) supply chain requirements and help them secure...
While progress toward cloud, UK public sector still mostly in hybrid environment
Feb 5, 2021
Hybrid cloud data services and data management company NetApp has revealed in a recent study that a mix of cloud and local infrastructure will continue on being used in the coming years by the UK’s public sector, according to DevOpps Online. And according to a freedom of information (FOI)...
Transparency International releases latest Corruption Perceptions Index
Feb 5, 2021
2020’s Corruption Perceptions Index is out. The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople using a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
While most countries have...
New EU competency framework increases professionalisation in digital, innovative and green public procurement
Jan 29, 2021
ProcurCompEU is a tool designed by the European Commission to support the professionalisation of public procurement. By defining 30 key competences, it provides a common reference for public procurement professionals in the European Union and beyond. It recognises and supports public procurement...
EIF attracts €300m to support the innovation and growth of European SME space technology companies
Jan 29, 2021
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is partnering with the European Commission to announce €300 million of investments into the EU space sector, supporting ground-breaking innovation in the industry. The innovation and growth of European smaller and medium-sized space technology companies is on...
COVID-X Open Call for Startups and SMEs with Data-driven solutions to defeat COVID-19
Jan 29, 2021
The new Horizon 2020 project COVID-X will fund EU Companies and Healthcare Providers to boost data-driven solutions with the power to overcome challenges in Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Follow-up to fight COVID-19. The €4 million EU-funded project COVID-X launches a new acceleration programme – a...
New move to embed Civil Service training across UK government
Jan 22, 2021
Part of the UK government’s Civil Service modernisation programme involves a New Curriculum and Campus for Government Skills. It launches this month to transform training and development for civil servants, from the core knowledge they need at the beginning of their career to specialist training...
Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands lead deployments of zero-emission buses in Europe
Jan 22, 2021
According to the latest data from green NGO Transport & Environment, Denmark leads the way in putting zero-emission urban buses on the streets in Europe, with 78% of new vehicles being electric. In Luxembourg and the Netherlands about two-thirds of new buses are zero-emissions. T&E said other EU...
Scottish Environment Protection Agency loses data to cyber criminals
Jan 22, 2021
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has revealed that it was held to ransom by ‘serious and organised’ cyber criminals. Sources, including the BBC, reported that cyber criminals stole thousands of digital files belonging to the environmental regulator, amounting to about 1.2GB of...
Perspectives and Insights
I have been interested in the question of getting successful commercial companies, especially tech companies, to sell to the government from the time I was …
The Contractor Accountability and Transparency Act of 2017 (S. 651), introduced by Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., is yet another example of a …
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
It’s no surprise President Trump has been systematically dismantling President Obama’s executive orders, since taking office. Obama himself knew it was a possibility: Frustrated by …
Past performance is an important step in being successful as a federal government contractor. Once firms get into the mid-tier range, they normally have amassed …
A few months back, we published several articles about the very interesting – and somewhat shocking – court case around the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning …