Introduction to Public Sector Procurement.

I am running the Introduction to Public Sector Procurement for CIPS in Manchester on 26th June 2018.  Full details are here.

Next one after that will be Edinburgh on 28th September (adapted to Scottish public procurement regulations, but also suitable for English, Welsh and Northern Irish delegates).  Then 20th November in London.

The last 2 courses will also have a second day going into more detail about some of the less common procurement routes such as Competitive Dialogue - Applying the Public Procurement Regulations.

The London event will also have the third part of the programme - the Future of Public Procurement.

Alternatively you could go for a 3 day course combining all 3 days, with a bit of extra stuff, in the Public Sector Skills Programme which we like to call the Summer school in public procurement - London 7/9 August, Manchester 21-23 August, and Edinburgh 4-6 September.

Hope to see you at some (but not all).

YPO - Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation

Had a good afternoon touring YPO as part of the South Yorkshire CIPS branch.
Very successful and very pleasant organisation.  Looking forward to hearing more about their sustainability drive which is linked to UK Global Sustainable Development Goals.

Sainsbury's, ASDA WalMart and Morrisons

The news is that supermarkets ASDA and Sainsbury's are looking to merge.  Lots of reportage discusses how they will look for efficiencies, and improved leverage over suppliers (presumably to match Tesco).

According to industry stats here the combined ASDA/Sainsbury will have a larger market share than Tesco (30% compared to 28%) but after required divestments that may mean they are of very comparable size.

 The question is  - What next for Morrisons?  Currently in 4th place with 10% they will automatically go up to 3rd, but be a third of the size of the two big supermarkets.  This is stick or bust time I suggest.  They could pick up retail units that ASDA/Sainsbury have to relinquish to please the authorities.  But do they then go all out to get to, say, 15% share?  OR do they stay where they are and hope to fend off Aldi on 7%?

I live in the home of Morrisons, Bradford, and would hope they go for growth, but part of me thinks that a better deal would have been for ASDA to take over Morrisons - roughly comparable market positions, whereas ASDA and Sainsbury now bracket Tesco in brand proposition.  Maybe that is the idea - leave Tesco no where to go either upmarket or downmarket.  But what do Morrisons do? Stick or Twist?

Procurex North - Manchester 24th April 2018

Tomorrow is Procurex North in Manchester at Manchester Central (which is part of the G-Mex complex).  Free to people working in the public sector.  Details here.

In the afternoon I am talking in the Winning Tenders Zone - so you can adapt your plans accordingly (listen or avoid).

There are a lot of good speakers during the day - especially in the Keynote Arena.  

Hope to see you there.

EU Procurement and Blue Passports

For once Public Procurement is big news.  The big news is that a French/Dutch company with facilities in the UK has won the contract to print the new Blue British passports over a British company with some assets in Malta.

My TLDR verdict: Delarue should have written a better bid.  (particularly if they are actually £120m more expensive has been indicated)

Procurex South - now onto Procurex North in Manchester 24th April 2018

Had a really good time at Procurex South.  Thanks to Twitter posters for the photos. Lots of questions from delegates, which I hope I managed to answer.  Good buzz around the place.  Got to get away from the stand to hear very interesting bit from Professor Sue Arrowsmith on Public Procurement implications of Brexit.  Her paper for the European Parliament last year is still the state of the art.  Current situation is wait and see but don't expect major changes in the near future.

And so onto Procurex North in Manchester on 24th April 2018 - full details here.  I am again running the Winning Tenders training zone.  Hopefully with new insights, or at least new jokes.

Hope to see you there.

CIPS Introduction to Public Procurement Bristol 25th April 2018

I shall be running the CIPS Introduction to Public Procurement course in Bristol in April 2018.  The next day is the Applying EU Public Procurement course, which follows on from the Introduction.  This time round we are not following that up with the Future of Public Procurement day, but that will be next run in Manchester in June 2018.  By which time the future of public procurement may have changed from where we are now - or may not.  That one needs regular checking and updating.

This course covers the basics of Public Procurement and so is useful for people joining the Public Sector, joining procurement, wanting a refresher, taking over running a procurement department or trying to sell to the public sector.  Or at least we often have delegates with those backgrounds.  If you are just interested, you are still welcome.