Wednesday, 2 July 2025

Consultation on changes to Public Procurement

The Procurement Act 2023 has been in place since 24th February 2025.  The government is now starting a consultation on proposed changes.  These are mostly fairly minor, and are about extending the requirements placed on Central government departments to cover all contracting authorities (and a bit more clarification on SMEs and Social Value).

The deadline for responses is 5th September 2025, so you have a couple of months to respond (but don't forget).  The link is here .

My first thoughts are (as above) nothing to significant.  But I'll have a think and share my responses when I submit them.

Always interested in hearing/reading other people's thoughts too.


Monday, 30 June 2025

25 not out


Today PAWA Consulting Ltd completes the 25th year of operation.  The business has been running slightly longer, having started as Paul Andrew Wright Associates 1st July 1998.

So, still here. And happily planning on being so for the foreseeable future.  

Which is good, as we have some significant changes to come in our 26th year of operations - details to follow.

But in the meantime, thanks to all of the clients, delegates, colleagues, friends, people I met (Red Dwarf reference if you are wondering).  Hope to see you all again. 
 

Thursday, 19 June 2025

Assessing the Procurement Act 2023 - 24th July 2025 - Free conference

 


I am delighted to be contributing to an online conference on the Procurement Act 2023 on Thursday 24th July 2025.

It is being organised by the Supply Chain Sustainability School, delivered by Action Sustainability.

I am doing a brief into the PA2023, before we have 3 expert presentations.  Then there will be questions to the panel.

Even better (for you) it is free to attend.

Full sign up details are here.

I'm pleased to say that we already have a considerable audience signed up.  Hope to see  there.

Thursday, 29 May 2025

Tariffs again...

 Well, the transatlantic tariffs situation is still not clear.  At the time of writing it seems that there will be a 50% tariff imposed on EU goods by the USA from 1 July.  But this deadline has already been postponed once, and maybe again.  And the size of the tariff may change.  And then again, the courts have decided that the current tariffs should are not permissible in law and if the US government wishes to apply then it has to be done by Congress, and not by the Executive claiming (rather ridiculously*) an economic emergency.

I do not pretend to know what is going to happen, but as Procurement and Supply Chain professionals we should take this chance to shine within our own organisations.  This period of high volatility will create both challenges and opportunities.

We need to be constantly reviewing the situation and developing (then implementing) appropriate plans.

Obviously we have to consider what it will mean if there are tariffs or reciprocal tariffs in our supply chains.  We need to check what these are (or might be) and then consider our supplier's approach is going to be.  Some will take this as an opportunity to raise prices to the full extent of tariff rate (even if there is a draw back arrangement, or if tariffs only apply to half of the product...).  Others (dare I say more sensible) will see this as an opportunity to have more dialogue with their customers ("we don't know any more than you do, but we have to work together...").

But don't forget the opportunities that might arise from displacement effects - Chinese and EU goods unable to win market space in the USA because of high tariffs will look to find other customers.  This might lead to price reductions as they seek to gain space in currently well served markets.

Whether we want to take advantage of that (risking existing relationships for a possibly temporary advantage) is of course the sort of thing we ought to be discussing internally and developing appropriate strategies.


Good luck

* The Global Financial Crisis of 2008/9 and Covid-19 in 2020 were obvious economic emergencies.  The USA in 2025 was the fastest growing major economy, had actually caught up the growth trend line from before Covid, had 4% unemployment (technically full employment) and 2.5% inflation (just 0.5% above target) - Clearly not an emergency, though of course governments are free to adopt whatever policies they wish following due process.

Wednesday, 28 May 2025

The Procurement Act in Practice for Suppliers - PASS Procurement 5th June 2025


I am running a training event for PASS Procurement of BIP Solutions on Thursday 5th June 2025 that focuses on what the Procurement Act 2023 means for Suppliers.

It is quite understandable that businesses are not aware of all the possibilities and challenges of new regulation, and I hope to be able to guide you through the new processes in a way that helps you to win more public sector business.

The course is online and full details are available at the link here.

If you cannot make 5th June there is another running on 8th July, but with my colleague Gemma rather than me.  You may, of course, prefer that!


Hope to see you there

Tuesday, 27 May 2025

What Engineers need to know about Contracts - live and in person in Rugby 8-9 July 2025

 After a short break due to the Covid19 pandemic (5 years?) we are returning to running this course face to fact in Rugby for a full 2 days.

Will be a great opportunity to network and of course to interrogate me about what I meant.

Hope to see you there.


Full details here



Just to confirm:  this is going ahead and we are getting pretty full for numbers - so if you are interested, best to book now.

Understanding and Implementing the Procurement Act 2023 - 4th June 2025

 



I am delighted to be starting a new series of courses with GovPD, starting 4th June 2025 with Understanding and Implementing the Procurement Act 2023.

The course is online and (as usual with me) will have lots of opportunity for delegates to interact and ask questions.  

This first running is just about sold out but we are going to be running it more times in 2025/6, with the next date on 5th August 2025.

Full details of the course are here.  Hope to see you there.