Links I Liked [Public Procurement]

1. Nice podcast about public procurement, from 2014. And no, it's not mine. Speaking of which, episode #3 with Frank Brunetta (Canadian Procurement Ombudsman) is now up.

2. The weird and wonderful world of local authority procurement. My Society looks like a very interesting project.

3. New Mistery Shopper results. And more importantly, apparently compliance is now mandatory for some (all?) contracting authorities in England and Wales since the Small Business Enterprise and Employment act came into force (Regulation 41). Also known as "assisting investigations." Oh, the euphemisms...

4. The World Bank is finally disclosing the identity of procurement contract winners. Say what you may about disclosing too much information after a tendering procedure, but not even disclosing the identity of the winning bidder smells beyond fishy. More about public contracts awardees information here (speculative).

5. Porto jumped into the bandwagon of "procurement infused" design contests. I am a sucker for innovation initiatives like this, but my usual concerns remain: i) intellectual property; ii) lock in; iii) design contests are not the right approach as they split R&D from procurement. Website for project here (Portuguese only).