GovPD - win-more-contracts-understanding-and-implementing-the-procurement-act-2023 5th August 2025

 There is good news and bad news about the course I run for GovPD - Winning more contracts, understanding and implementing the Procurement Act 2023.

The good news is that we are running it online again on 5th August 2025.

The bad news is that that session is already sold out.

The better news is that we have more dates scheduled - 1st October 2025 and 3rd December 2025.

But if you are interested, might be an idea to get booking.  The course is mostly focused on suppliers, but is relevant to buyers too (and I make sure to tweak the content according to the delegates).

BIP Solutions - Preparing Perfect Tenders 27th February 2024

 We've swapped a couple of events round, and I shall now be presenting Preparing Perfect Tenders online on Tuesday 27th February 2024.

This is one of our events tailored for suppliers to the public sector, and will of course talk about the new Procurement Act 2023 as well as tried and tested ways to make your bids and proposals stand out.

Full details here (the date might still say 7th March, but it WILL be on 27th Feb - we've just agreed)

Procurex North 8th March 2016 in Manchester

Hope to see you there.  I have a rather full dance card of presentations. I  hope not to overrun.  I shall be in the Supplier Training Zone from 1pm (and a few other odds and ends before that)

Procurex North #PXNorth

Procurex North #PXNorth was what I did yesterday.  And great fun it was too.  Apparently I don't look anything like my picture.  Full houses all round until the last (repeat) time, and lots of questions and one to one sessions to fill in that awkward time between sessions that I would otherwise have wasted resting, eating my lunch or checking my notes for the next session...

Thankfully nothing I couldn't answer, despite the newness of the regulations - and some genuinely interesting news about a new innovation partnership in the North West which will a) be one of the first (if not the first) and b) of great potential value.  Hope to hear and share more later.

Procurex South is 10th March and has the added advantage of Digby Barker in the Supplier zone rather than me - I am running Contract Management in Southampton that day if you want to come along.

Oh, and the Yang Sing restaurant is just as good as it was when I lived in Manchester a dozen years ago.  Great night out.

Sainsbury's Buyers: Bullies or idiots?

Well, probably not either - but you might have thought those were the choices when looking at how they have been treating some of their small suppliers over payment terms.

Spend Matters blog has been running a series of articles about this by Peter Smith and Prof. Andrew Cox, and I have been chipping in in the comments.  Are Sainsbury's buyers ethical, misguided or completely right?  The TL:DR version is that some people will see this as unethical abuse, others as a legitimate use of their position, and others concern that it is a short term gain with long term damage to the supply position.

My thoughts are that there is likely to be short term pressures that may have long term implications, and that aggressive price tactics may lead to future price rises.  And that it seems bizarre that large relatively cash rich businesses (supermarkets) with low borrowing costs are extending payment terms to small suppliers/contractor who have to pay higher borrowing costs  - if they can borrow at all.  Isn't there a way to get better prices for shorter payment terms instead?

I think that we all agree that the important thing is that the decision should be made after a full and detailed consideration of the implications and results.

Interestingly enough Supply Management magazine just sent round a Survey Monkey questionnaire that might be related to this discussion: Are retail buyers damaging the profession? - you can fill it in here.

The coming Spring: Procurement and the Recovery

The evidence is stacking up that the UK is in recovery mode.  Now there are a couple of points about that. Firstly, it may not feel like a recovery – but my experience is that it never does until the recovery has been going for a year or two.  Maybe more.  Secondly the recovery is never uniform.  Rather like my favourite quote “the future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed” (William Gibson) all recoveries start off patchy before they “float all boats”.  So there are going to be mixed recessionary and growth signals for months to come. 

So what does this mean for procurement?  Well it requires a bit of thinking and a change of behaviour. 

When your popcorn is ready to eat the rate of pops drops, but if you wait for them to stop altogether you have overcooked it. If you wait for all signs of recession to be gone you will be in the midst of the boom.  The number of suppliers going out of business will drop, but some will still fail even though the finish line is in front of them.  Continue to be careful about the financial health of suppliers.  The recovery can finish off some companies because of the need to increase capacity, hire new staff, and rising input prices which is hell for the Cashflow.

The recession was all about forcing down prices, and costs out.  This often meant wage freezes and hiring freezes.  So there is no pent up demand for wage rises, which will eventually have an impact on prices.  Suppliers are going to be much less willing to agree bottom rates in return for guaranteed work – a long contract could leave them exposed.

A lot of suppliers mothballed or closed capacity during the recession.  This means firstly that they have to invest to re-open that capacity, and secondly that there might be supply shortages.  Both of these will also tend to increase prices, but availability might be low.  Suppliers will sensibly bottom slice their lowest margin business, so if you are still in “recession mode” pressing for the lowest possible price then you might struggle for supply.  Once survival is guaranteed suppliers are going to look for the “fat” to put on their bones for next time.

Many suppliers ran staffing at minimum levels.  As the recovery develops the job market will open up, and staff will be looking for promotions just as suppliers need more personnel to cope with increasing demand.  So again there are likely to be price rises and gaps.

And suppliers may no longer be quite so keen on your work.  If there is more to go round, they can be more selective.  If they have a limited supply and can get good prices wherever they go, then they will select customers on other critieria – like how you treated them during the recession.  It’s a bit late to worry about the consequences of that now, but you might want to find ways to apologise for beating them with a big stick for the past 5 years.  Or of course to remind people about your support of them during hard times.

So, just remember that things are changing, and change is dangerous.  Make sure you are not stuck in the mind set of the past five or six years and suffer as a result.

(The cherry blossom in Leeds always told me that Spring was on the way or here already)