Best wishes for 2018

2018 still sounds the future to me, but it is only a couple of weeks away.

2018 will mark 20 years of PAWA Consulting  - what a long strange trip it has been.  2017 has been one of our best years ever, and I am looking forward to a break and then diving back.

There will be the usual mix of open and in-house training courses through a number of providers, including for the first time online webinars that can be bought and viewed at any time.  There may be other stuff too - but first the holidays.

So Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you - hope 2018 finds you healthy, happy and prosperous.

Procurex South 15th March 2018 - London Olympia

I should be presenting at BIP Solutions Procurex South next year, as well as some of their other events.  Always good events, and a good venue too.  Hope to see you there.

P4H

CIPS Public Sector Skills Programme

CIPS are running a series of Summer schools on Public Sector Procurement.  These 3 days that should give a good grounding in UK Public Procurement, and they expand on the two single day courses we run as open training.

Bravely I am leaving the last session to talk about Brexit.  Wish me luck. 

I shall be running all of them, though CIPS is shy of mentioning that - obviously not wanting to put people off.

Full details are available here.

Dates and venues (non-residential) are;

18-20 July 2017
Holiday Inn Kensington Forum, London

29-31 August 2017
Radisson Blu Hotel, Manchester Airport

13-15 September 2017
Radisson Blu Hotel, Edinburgh

p4H Birmingham 12th July 2017

I'm delighted to say that I am speaking at P4H this week.  Once again looking after the Supplier's Training zone.

Hope to see you there.

CIPS Applying EU procurement processes - Bristol 15th June 2017

I am running the CIPS course on Applying EU Procurement Processes at the Bristol Hilton on 15th June 2017.

Full details are here.

This is a follow on day to the Introduction to Public Sector Procurement, which is running the day before.  We look in  more detail at some of the less common EU procurement processes such as Competitive Dialogue, Innovation Partnerships, Dynamic Purchasing Systems etc.

It is not essential to do the Introduction course first, but there is a reduced rate for doing both if booked together.

Hope to see you there.

CIPS Introduction to Public Procurement Bristol 14th June 2017

I shall be running the CIPS Introduction to Public Sector Procurement at the Hilton Bristol on 14th June 2017.  Details here.

This is for people newly involved in Public Sector Procurement, or those with more experience looking for a better understanding of the underlying structures and the processes.

Always a good event.  Hope to see you there.

I am not always sure that people realise that this is day 1 of 2 that we run together - the second part is Applying EU Procurement Processes, and looks in more detail at the common and less common procurement processes such as DPS, Competitive Dialogue etc.  I believe there is a discount for booking both. 

Vote, vote, vote!

Not a Procurement related post, and not deliberately political - but there is a General Election on June 8th 2017 and I really do think that we all have an obligation to vote.

Normally people say "I live in a safe seat, so there is no point" or some other idea.  However whichever side wins I bet this election will be portrayed as a referendum on the Brexit Referendum, and therefore the total number of votes cast will be a metric.  Whatever your party, and whether you are Leaver or Remainer, this time (more than usual) all votes will count.

So even if "there is no point" this time there is a point - and the more of the country that votes the more confident we can be that the government reflects the mood of the country.  Or doesn't.  Whichever. 

CIPS Applying EU Procurement Processes Manchester 18th May 2017

I am running the CIPS course on Applying EU Procurement Processes at the Radisson Manchester Airport on 18th May 2017.

Full details are here.

This is a follow on day to the Introduction to Public Sector Procurement, which is running the day before.  We look in  more detail at some of the less common EU procurement processes such as Competitive Dialogue, Innovation Partnerships, Dynamic Purchasing Systems etc.

It is not essential to do the Introduction course first, but there is a reduced rate for doing both if booked together.

Hope to see you there.

CIPS Introduction to Public Sector Procurement - Manchester 17th May 2017

I shall be running the CIPS Introduction to Public Sector Procurement at the Radisson, Manchester airport on 17th May 2017.  Details here.

This is for people newly involved in Public Sector Procurement, or those with more experience looking for a better understanding of the underlying structures and the processes.

Always a good event.  Hope to see you there.

I am not always sure that people realise that this is day 1 of 2 that we run together - the second part is Applying EU Procurement Processes, and looks in more detail at the common and less common procurement processes such as DPS, Competitive Dialogue etc.  I believe there is a discount for booking both. 

Procurex South Thursday 20th April 2017 - London Olympia

BIP solutions have asked me to contribute to their Procurex South event at London Olympia on Thursday 21st April 2017.

Full details are here.

Hope to see you there.

Procurex North - Manchester

A good event - I had a bit more time than usual to wonder the stands and meet up with friends old and new, such as Susan Rashid and Greg Jackson of Supply Chain Consultants - really good CIPS study centres.

My stint was quite short, and I will probably doing more at Procurex South at Olympia 20th April 2017.

Procurex North - Manchester 21st March 2017

Today is Procurex North in Manchester.  Hope to see you there.  I shall be running the Winning Tenders sessions from 12:20.  Feel free to come along and ask awkward questions.
If you can't make this Procurex South is 20th April 2017 at London Olympia.

12.20 - 12.45

 

Introduction to Public Procurement

+

12.50 - 13.15

 

Complying with the standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ)

+

13.20 - 13.45

 

Tenderers’ Common Mistakes

+

13.50 - 14.15

 

Addressing Sustainability in Your Tenders

+

Power, Corruption and Lies Part 2: DIT and Cultural Fit as an evaluation criteria

I don't want to be seen as regularly knocking the government, but another case has arisen that I think needs greater public scrutiny.

The Department for International Trade has advertised a low value tender (therefore not subject to the full weight of OJEU) that has as one of the award criteria 15% of marks for Cultural Fit - the others are Technical Competence 65% and Price 20%.

So we can see that Cultural fit is almost as important as price.  And we know that in practice the intangible element of culture can have a big impact on how a contract is actually carried out, so there is nothing wrong in principle with the idea.  But the question is of course, how are we defining Cultural Fit?  This could easily be a discriminatory question which would not be allowed ("you are from the North and don't fit into our Southern culture...")

In this case it is determined as;

Be focussed enough to stick to the task at hand and not be side-tracked in a vast and quick-moving field Be committed and hard-working, to deliver under time pressures Be enthused by the prospect of working at the frontline in such an exciting and dynamic area Be committed to the best possible outcome for the United Kingdom following its departure from the European Union

Let's look at these.

Stick to the task - fair enough but rather a given I would have thought.
Be committed - as above. 
Be enthused - as above.   Can you imagine anyone bidding for this who was not enthused by the task?  They would simply not bid.  Likewise if they were not focussed, hard-working etc. then I cannot imagine they would admit that in their tender proposal.  I also find it hard to imagine how we might score these criteria.  Particularly as part of the process is a formal presentation - which is inevitably more subjective than a written proposal, and therefore potentially more open to challenge as not treating bidders equally.

The final point however is of course the real problem.  Be committed to the best possible outcome for the UK...  this sounds suspiciously like a political Brexit loyalty clause.  And therefore it stinks.  What if I believe the best possible post Brexit is to rejoin the EU forthwith?  Am I now excluded from winning?  This is a political vetting clause, and in no way fits with the requirement for non-discrimination.

I expect to see more of these "political loyalty" tests if this one is successful.  Why are they corruption?  Because it amounts to hiring suppliers that the minister likes, and fits his/her views rather than the best one for the job.  Which is classical government corruption.  No money needs to change hands - the minister benefits politically, and the UK taxpayer is not guaranteed best value for money.

A more elegant analysis of why this is illegal comes from Dr. Sanchez-Graellis of Bristol of University on his always interesting blog (well interesting to me) www.howtocrackanut.com.

Power, Corruption and lies

CIPS in their ethics test describe Corruption as "the request, agreeing to or accepting a financial or other advantage intending that, in consequence a relevant function or activity is performed improperly"

This is the definition of Corruption that I am applying when I say that Deloitte deciding not to bid for UK Government contracts for 6 to 18 months in order to appease Ministers is corruption.  Ministers are agreeing to it for political and personal reasons rather than the good of the country.  There is no suggestion that they will benefit financially, though that is not the only definition of corruption.

Preparing Perfect Tenders, London 15th March 2017

Off to London to deliver Preparing Perfect Tenders for BIP Solutions.  Full details here.

Procurex North Manchester Central 21st March 2017

The seasons are turning, and as well as the cherry blossom, Procurex is coming around again.

The first is Procurex North at Manchester Central (next to GMex) on 21st March.

Looks good to me - but then again I am biased as I am running 4 training sessions.  Fewer than usual, so it gives me a chance to actually see some of the other interesting sessions.

Full details are here.   It is free for Public Sector delegates, and £95 for the private sector.

Hope to see you there - I do have more free time than usual so look forward to chatting.  Or wittering on - take your pick.

Deloitte and Public Procurement

Having had a very busy couple of months I find that I am still angry about Deloitte deciding not to bid for UK government contracts for 6 (or 18) months as a result of one of their staff leaking comments on UK government preparations for Brexit.

Let me just go over this again, now it has simmered gently.  Deloitte are a private company and are compelled to do what they think will create value for their shareholders.  They clearly think that NOT doing UK government contracts for 6 months will create value.  That MUST mean they think that there is more value coming as a result of this decision.

The awarding of UK government contracts is supposed to be an impartial process with contracts awarded to the best bidder.  If Deloitte believe that they will benefit from this approach they must believe that the process is open to external influence, otherwise whether they annoyed politicians or not would not matter.

Deloitte is a leading company that has won much government work in fair competition against others.  If they are not bidding then contracts are likely to go to organisations that are not as good as Deloitte would have been.  Potentially at higher prices.  The UK suffers because of Deloitte's decision not to bid.  And they have taken that decision to curry favour with politicians.

This is corruption just as much as if they were stuffing notes into brown envelopes.

I don't Deloitte.  I do blame our politicians.

In order to work effectively (whether in the EU, or not) public procurement must be open and fair, and be seen to be open and fair, with contracts going to the best bidder not people with the best contacts or relationships.  This business  damages all parties, and particularly taxpayers. 

If find myself getting more appalled not less.  Your mileage my vary.

Hacking

With all the recent shenanigans about political hacking of e-mails and servers, and the recent introduction of the UK's rather strong surveillance law, it is possible to forget that commercial entities are also the subject of continual cyberattack.

News today is that the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia is reporting the re-emergence of a virus that caused massive problems at Saudi Aramco in 2012.  This created a large amount of damage, and the rest of the world paid more for its hard drives as a result (a spike in demand leading to a spike in prices).  For the first time that I know of a second country and oil company has been identified as suffering in that first attack, and that fits with what I have heard.

Meanwhile, ransomware is becoming more prevalent with even public authorities having to pay up to get their data back.

So, a reminder.  Back up your hard drives.  Do it now.  Go on.  Have a coffee and do a backup.  Then detach that backup from your system and do another.  You might thank me later.

CIPS Applying Public Sector Procurement Processes, Birmingham, 22 February 2017

My second CIPS open course of the year, will be the follow up to Introduction to Public Sector Procurement where we look in more detail at the procurement processes, and in particular the less common ones such as Competitive Dialogue, Innovation Partnership, and Dynamic Procurement Systems.

It is ideal to do as the second day of an introduction to Public Procurement, or to look at the less common processes.

Details are here.

CIPS Introduction to Public Sector Procurement, Birmingham, 21st February 2017

So the first of my CIPS open courses approaches at surprising speed, as 2017 rolls on.

So this is the course we have run in 2016, with the minor change of referring to the Selection Questionnaire (SQ) and European Single Procurement Document (ESPD Scotland) rather than PQQ.

Details are to be found here.

Deloitte and Prime Minister Theresa May

I spat my coffee out when I read that Deloitte decided not to bid for UK government contracts because PM May was angry with them about a leaked document concerning Brexit.

Note that this was a "voluntary" decision by Deloitte - see Guardian here. There was not official sanction for Deloitte for the link, and is in no way linked to Deloitte's performance on current contracts.  For Deloitte this is a commercial decision to appease a politician in the hopes of currying favour.

This is a very slippery slope.  If the public procurement process can be used by politicians to influence contract award, we are well on the way to corruption and influence peddling.  It may be "accepted practice" for businesses who have upset a minister to "voluntarily" suspend bidding.  This corrupts the fairness, openness and transparency required in public procurement.  If only friends of the government bid we are all losers.

I was pleased to see that Pedro Telles of the excellent www.telles.eu  thinks the same (and said it much earlier than me).  And in the interests of political balance he also points out that Jeremy Corbyn's comments on using Public Procurement to influence the pay structure of suppliers is equally preposterous. and would break the WTO Public Procurement Agreement.

Again, it cannot be said enough: If politicians interfere in the public procurement process we are opening the door to corruption, and the losers will be the public.

This is not the same as saying that Public Procurement cannot be used as an instrument of policy - for example to promotes SMEs and apprenticeships.  But once politicians start saying who can and cannot win contracts we are in banana republic territory.

2017

Happy New Year