Public Procurement
I had the chance to speak virtually in two events this week, the first organised by Albert Sanchez-Graells from Bristol and Neli Garbuzanova about Healthcare procurement and commissioning during COVID-19. My short presentation is available here. I really like the narrow and tight focus of this event: 5 speakers, 90
Public Procurement
Last week, OpenDemocracy managed to get the Government to disclose four NHS COVID related contracts. That it took them a threat of court action speaks millions about the value of transparency and accountability regarding public money in the UK these days. I haven't had the opportunity to explore
Public Procurement
Most of the focus over the last month or so in the blog has been on the procurement of ventilators by the UK Government (#ventilatorgate) and how, in my view, the rules have been broken. There is, however, another elephant in the room and that is the personal protection equipment
Public Procurement
1. Vietnam to open public procurement market for foreign investors. 2. China in the Balkans: Motivations behind growing influence. 3. Italy’s National Anti-Corruption Authority is the first winner of the European Commission’s Digital Transformation award. Brownie points for them using Tor to protect whistleblowers. 4. Engaging with the
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
Public Procurement
1. Spanish Government kicks out 5 bus companies from public procurement for abnormally low tenders. (Spanish only) 2. Can technology solve the problem of extra costs in procurement? (Spanish only) I suspect that is not going to happen (at least fully) unless technology solves the problem of incomplete contracts...for
EU Commission
1. European Commission publishes country specific recommendations (with comments on procurement for at least a few Member States). 2. Lisbon wants to create positive discriminations in public procurement for undertakings not employing people on short term contracts (Portuguese only). Illegal in my view. 3. Spain will end non-transparent award procedures
ransomware
Ben Thompson rightly points out a clear agency problem related with the business model of suppliers of hardware and software to institutions like the NHS: “ ” Ben is on the right track when arguing that the lack of alignment of business models is at the heart of the problem. However, the
Public Procurement
Last week's (and today's?) ransomware attack on the NHS has a procurement angle to it. It is not the only one and maybe not the most important but procurement mattered nonetheless. Here's why: 1. Vendor lock-in All compromised computers ran either Windows XP (unsupported)
Public Procurement
1. USA open sources most of the code base it uses in its projects. 2. 18F is under flak for costing money (as if turning a profit was a usual yardstick to measure public sector services). 3. Part 5 of the Digital Marketplace vision. 4. Every 1% saved from chaotic
Links
1. Improving efficiency by building behavioural insights into an innovative NHS procurement portal (research project). Looks very interesting and I look forward to the findings. 2. Public procurement in Europe needs to enter the digital era. Good blogpost by Mara Mendes and Mihaly Fazekas on the need for better procurement
Public Procurement
1. The Regional Government of Aragon wants to hire technical staff, not politicians for public procurement roles. 2. European Commission revisits its third country access to public procurement markets. Albert has already commented on the proposal and I should do the same - after all I wrote a paper on