blockchain
I came across this paper on Hacker News yesterday and decided to have a look at it since it merges two of my interests: distributed ledgers and procurement. The paper by Hardwick, Akram and Markantonakis proposes a theoretical framework for a tendering system based on smart contracts, running on the
Public Procurement
The Public Accounts Select Committee has published a report into the risk assessments of Carillion in the run up to its failure. Here's a snippet: "The Carillion assessments show that: * Although Carillion had been rated Amber owing to performance against contracts with the Ministry of Defence and
Public Procurement
Somehow I missed this excellent blogpost by Peter Smith last week about the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee hearing on public sector outsourcing. The whole thing is worth reading, but here's an interesting bit: "Asked about contracts that are in difficulties, “we have re-priced in
Public Procurement
Very interesting piece on Wired about how Barcelona is dealing with smart city surveillance, even if I do not buy the whole political worldview.* On the procurement side, this bit at the start caught my eye: “Now we have a big contract with Vodafone, and every month Vodafone has to
Public Procurement
In the wake of Carillion's implosion, we are coming to see the internal workings of the UK Government in a light that might be surprising or unexpected for those looking from the afar. The most recent piece of information comes in today's Telegraph and is connected
Public Procurement
The European Commission has just published earlier today a lengthy guidance document on procurement of innovation. It is welcome since procurement of innovation is the kind of approach (policy? idea?) that is useful mostly for the top 1% of procurers and even then, just some of the time. As such,
Public Procurement
1. UK East Coast rail franchise expected to be scrapped 'in days'. For the third time in 10 years one should add... 2. Carillion used its suppliers to "prop up falling business model". 120 payment days are not really new or unexpected in the field of
Public Procurement
1. Microsoft deal helps NHS ramp up cyber security- oh, the irony. 2. Cabinet Office updates its tech spend controls processes 3. When to challenge public contract awards - lessons learned from the UK passport saga - easy, when you have reasonable grounds for it. 4. Did Your Company Make that Warplane?
Public Procurement
Myself and Albert have just made available on SSRN a new working paper on Brexit and public procurement, focused mostly on the transition agreement. As usual, we welcome comments and criticism. Here's the abstract: “ ”
Public Procurement
Can't really say I am surprised by De La Rue's decision, but the motives are a joy to read: "We've done our homework, we've taken legal advice, we've looked at, frankly, the likelihood of overturning the decision and the
Public Procurement
I remember - naively - thinking competition law made no sense conceptually. Surely, the idea of having a market and economic operators inside it was to enable competition for the best to win. So, why do we need competition law and by extension, public procurement rules? The CEO of Liberty Steel provided
cancer
I'm one of the lucky ones. 15 years ago I made it through. The experience changed me profoundly, partly for the better and at a not insignificant cost. It is not something I mention publicly these days as its relative importance declines as time marches on, but my