Cost, Risk, and Innovation

We’ve written a lot recently about the effectiveness of challenges and prizes in public procurement, particularly in bringing in potential suppliers who exist far outside the orbit of the standard marketplace. The U.S. Agency for International Development, for instance, has used challenges to...

The most outstanding innovative procurement activities were showcased last week at the Procura+ Awards in Sweden. We have been highlighting the shortlisted entries for the past couple of weeks, here and here. These awards are part of the ICLEI (local governments for sustainability) network’s...

As we have said before, the procurement of innovation and sustainability in goods and services is not just about R&D, but the design and delivery of public services, processes and models. This is what is behind the Procura+ Awards, rewarding, encouraging and then showcasing public procurers that...

Earlier this month, I attended a conference on procurement covering both the private and the public sector. One morning, I talked over breakfast with two people from the Cardiff Council in Wales, U.K. We had a nice chat about several topics (the main ones being Brexit and the election of Donald...

Great conversation and podcast with Jay Nath, Chief Innovation Officer for the City of San Francisco. The work he and his colleagues have done to make government a better service provider and a viable customer for entreprenuers the world over offers practical lessons for all professionals operating...

EU Public Procurement Directives targeting low tenders are beginning to be implemented following their adoption in April of this year. Three directives which would change the way public procurers treat abnormally low tenders (ALTs) must be implemented by member states before April 2016. However,...

Market intelligence firm SpendEdge has released a report on ‘Disaster Recovery as a Service’ covering market intelligence, procurement research, supply market forecasts, cost drivers, trends, and category management insights. Disaster recovery is relevant to all business but especially the...

The IPSERA 2018 conference started during the festivities of the Greek National Independence Day. A sunny day in Athens, still a bit fresh but with spring in the air. That was a distinct and very welcome difference from the bleak season in the more Northern European countries. (April is the...

High Speed 2 (HS2) is the planned high-speed railway in the United Kingdom with some sections already under construction and others awaiting approval. It was intended to link up 21 cities across the nation from London up to the north of England. But the Transport Secretary has now announced an...