Public Spend Forum – Public Procurement Highlights from this Week

UK think tank, The Institute for Government (IfG), aims is to help make government work and perform more effectively. It carries out research and analysis, delivers commentary and holds public events to explore the key challenges facing government in a bid to help bring about positive change. Last month (December 2018) it published a report on ‘Government procurement – The Scale and Nature of Contracting in the UK.’ It is the first to be published as part of a wider programme that will look at the record, successes and failures of government contracting (with reference to the experience of other countries). It looks at what has worked and what hasn’t, what lessons should be drawn, how contracts should be managed, and how activities should be taken back into the public sector if and where that is appropriate. Read more here.

Public Spend and Riding a Bike: A Fresh Look at Successful Buyer-Supplier Relationships

In this Spend Matters article, Editor JP Morris cross refers to a Public Spend Forum podcast, but with some added flavour of his own on rethinking the buyer-supplier relationship. The truth is, he reports, that having the knowledge about something doesn’t mean that you can understand it enough to use it effectively. He refers to the Backwards Brain Bicycle as an example: 'cyclist trying to ride a bike that steers opposite from the way we typically ride a bike. Turn right and this bike goes left. Turn left and it goes right.' The point is that the rider has to 'unlearn' all the complex reactions your brain calculates to ride a bike. So, sometimes we need to unlearn the typical biases we have and to retool our thinking to what we really want to accomplish. Read more here.

And in other news ...

EMCOR – First in Sector to Achieve Sustainable Procurement Standard

NHS Backed By Court in Hepatitis C Procurement Row

Read also - NHS News – Major Challenge on Medicines Procurement And More

Public-Sector Procurement After A No-Deal Brexit – Government Guidance Update

Latvia Halts $206m Armoured Vehicle Contract

The Procurement Economy in 2019: UK and EU