There were a number of other disputes in the public services during the year with several pay disputes across the UK decentralized civil service pay bargaining arrangements. However, the largest industrial action there involved workers in the Department of Works and Pensions protesting at the planned 30,000 job cuts imposed as part of the Gershon… [Read more…]
In April 2010 I delivered a keynote on transparency in public sector procurement to senior government executives in Washington, D.C. at the 3rd Annual Business of Government Summit. Given this week’s focus on procurement in the public sector, I thought that a replay of our audio synchronized PowerPoint would be very interesting given the nature of the… [Read more…]
I write tenders & oversee tender evaluations for an Australian govt body – and I’ve always included criteria around “innovative” business processes & systems. Sadly the responses to these questions are usually very disappointing and just offer up the industry standard fare… I don’t think that a supplier having a competitive advantage contradicts the concept… [Read more…]
Has anyone had an experience challenging a requirement in an RFP as not a true requirement? Using Blake’s “must have completed some ridiculous certification course that I have never heard of” example, has anyone had experience challenging that as not necessary? Would the same results from someone who hadn’t completed the certification couse be just… [Read more…]
What can you do if you pay on advance and receive 20% of the material you purchased? The seller refuses to refund the money or send the pending material without a new bigger order!! Question posted in LinkedIn Efficient Purchasing Group My response to the above question was succinct and perhaps a little harsh but… [Read more…]
The dynamics of a changing world especially as it relates to the economy as well as other factors means that a career in the public sector is not what it used to be . . . if it ever was. Here is the question by way of our Procurement Insights Poll . . . is… [Read more…]
Government departments were told in a Cabinet Office policy note (PDF) dated 31 January that they “should wherever possible deploy open standards in their procurement specifications”. In its note, it defined open standards at those that are “publicly available at zero or low cost” and that have “intellectual property made irrevocably available on a royalty-free… [Read more…]
Small business people claim they face financial ruin and the daily lives of thousands of civil servants are changing as the way the government conducts business is transformed. In the most recent federal budget, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale targeted $11 billion in savings. Of that total, $7 billion will come from streamlining the procurement process,… [Read more…]
There is a great deal happening over at the new Supplier Relationship Management Portal, including the launch of the new Procter & Gamble Supplier Forum. Forum Overview: Have you been a supplier for Procter & Gamble, or are you trying to be? Sharing your experiences as a supplier to the $80 billion giant can help… [Read more…]
Over the years I have been engaged to do research and then write about specific areas of procurement. This has included my government funded work relative to the utilization of an agent-based model in the development of a web-based, on-demand platform back in 1998, to commodity characteristic analysis and ERP vendor studies. Suffice to say… [Read more…]
June 30, 2011
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