New London Training courses for Oil and Gas industry in 2012

I shall be presenting a new range of courses in London in 2012.  They are aimed at the oil and gas industry, but most will have much wider applications than that.  Contact me for further details.

20th February - 24th February 2012

Best Practices in Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals
Effective Purchasing and Supply for the Oil and Gas Industry

20th February - 2nd March

Advanced Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

27th February - 2nd March

Effective Project Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

26th March - 30th March

Successful Negotiation in Procurement and Sourcing

16th April - 20th April

Maximising Performance via Supply Chain Management in Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

14th May - 18th May

International Sourcing and Purchasing for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

14th May - 25th May

The Complete Programme for Sourcing and Purchasing within the Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals Fields

21st May - 25th May

Advanced International Sourcing and Purchasing for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

11th June - 15th June

Effective Purchasing and Supply for the Oil and Gas Industry

2nd July - 6th July

Effective Project Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

17th September - 28th September

The Complete Programme for Sourcing and Purchasing within the Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals Fields

24th September - 28th September

Advanced International Sourcing and Purchasing for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

1st October - 5th October

Best Practices in Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

1st October - 12th October

Advanced Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

8th October - 12th October

Effective Project Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals 

26th November - 30th November

Maximising Performance via Supply Chain Management in Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals 

3rd December - 7th December

Successful Negotiation in Procurement and Sourcing

Course dates for 2012

I shall be presenting the event Developing Compliant Evaluation Processes for BIP Solutions in Manchester on 20th March 2012, and Birmingham on 10th April 2012.  Hope to see you there.  Details on the BIP solutions website.

New book on Public Sector Procurement

Our new book is now published by Cambridge Academic, and is called “Excellence in Public Sector Procurement in Public Sector Procurement-How to control costs and add value”

Co-authored with Stuart Emmett, it has been written because whilst, there are many general books covering Procurement, not many cover solely the public sector.

Yet this sector spends colossal amounts of taxpayer’s money on goods and services; the NHS alone, for example, is one the largest organisations in the world.

The UK public sector also has its own peculiarities and differences from the private sector, for example, the EU Procurement Rules that guide and direct how purchasing must be undertaken.  At regional and local level there are additional priorities, which are often subject to political oversight.  In addition there are opportunities to use Procurement as a tool for wider objectives.

It may be that such regulation constrains and limits procurement best practice and therefore such tensions will also be briefly explored in the book. However the main thrust of the book, will be the requirement to work working within the existing rules and guidelines.

The style of the book is our usual one of being direct with little jargon. It covers all of the basics as well as providing detailed and wider discussions to encourage thought and practical application. To facilitate practical application, the book is illustrated by case studies and application checklists.

The contents cover the following main sections:

Part one. Procurement Objectives

·         Procurement Evolution and The Supply Chain

·         Strategic and Organizational Procurement

·         Procurement Objectives

·         The 5 Rights

·         Product and Services Differences

·         Procurement by the Strategic Requirements

Part two: The Procurement Cycle

·         Needs/Specifying

·         Sourcing

·         Enquiry and Evaluation

·         Tendering in the Public Sector

·         Order placing and Contracts

·         Handling orders

·         Progressing and Delivery

·         Loss and Disputes

·         Balancing Commercial and social objectives

Part three. Public Sector Procurement Frameworks

·         Overview

·         The Regulatory framework

·         Lower Value Procurements

·         Best Value concepts

·         SME concordat

Part four. Best Practice and Contexts

·         Suppliers pricing

·         Relationship based approaches

·         Outsourcing with NHS Case Study

·         Private Finance Initiative

·         ICT and E- Procurement

·         ICT Project Procurement

·         Buying from the third sector

·         Supplier Development

·         Contract  Management      

·         Budget management  

Part five. Public Sector Procurement: some Conclusions

·         Size of the public sector

·         Controversy: Is tendering the best way?

Appendices

·         Public sector Procurement in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

·         International Public Procurement challenges

This book is intended for:

·         Professional managers in all public sector procurement and supply roles and positions.

·         Suppliers in the private sector who need to understand the public sector

·         Academics such as lecturers or students studying business topics like procurement, purchasing and the supply chain

·         Students of professional institutes such as the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Institute of Supply Management and others.

The book is available right now from:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Excellence-Public-Sector-Procurement-Stuart/dp/1903499666/ref=sr_1_37?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322819339&sr=1-37

Excellence in Public Sector Procurement - comments and corrections

We stated in the book that any corrections, new insights and reader comments would be welcome at this blog.  The book took about two years to write and publish, but even so there are bound to be some mistakes - we welcome the chance to correct them here is our readers tell us about them.  There will also be a number of differences of opinion - which we would like to be able to debate.  Finally in a fast moving environment such as public sector procurment there are bound to be changes - which we shall try to keep track of here.  Once such is the new EC procurement thresholds which apply from 1 January 2012 - see here.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Excellence in Public Sector Procurement - Emmett & Wright

At long last the book is out - see here for details

The Death of the Euro

I am at heart pro-Europe and pro-Euro.  Both positions that require some defending in the UK.  At least if you read the Daily Mail, Telegraph, or Express.  However I believe that European countries have more in common than we realise, and more than our differences.  (I am writing this in Kuala Lumpur, a wonderful westernised city that is more different to, say, London that any city in Europe)  I also have a historic view that says that the main purpose of the European Union is to prevent a further major European war - in which it has so far been very successful.

The principle of the Euro is easy to see - a single currency for a trading bloc larger than the USA, providing a potential counterweight to the US Dollar, making it easier to trade across borders and promoting a single European identity. 
Through the travails of the Eurozone, as first Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, and now Greece, Italy, Spain and even Belgium, struggled to escape the current crisis I was hopeful that the Euro would survive.

As I now talk to my delegates from the Gulf on my course in KL, I find that my beliefs have changed and I no longer think that it is going to survive.  The problems appear to be both economic and political.  The politics rather over rides the economic, because in some ways they are the cause of the economic problems.  In setting up the Euro the EU governments allowed countries into the Eurozone for political reasons that had no purpose in being there (Italy, Greece) and then ignored its own rules to allow the big countries (France and Germany) to flout the rules with no consequence.  These were political decisions.  Meanwhile across Europe politicians played narrow, local political games without attempting to persuade a sceptical European public of the benefits of the EU.  Countries that were beneficiaries of EU largesse (such as Eire) were in favour - the funders were more sceptical (particularly GB).  Robert Peston of the BBC, the usual harbinger of doom, has a lot of information about how the cost of borrowing in the Eurozone is going to pull it apart (in fairly short order).  Michael Lewis's new book "Boomerang" is also very informative about how the economic markets are now likely to bet against Eurozone countries and the Euro.  Link here


Gordon Brown's 5 economic tests now seem wise in ensuring we did not join.  They were;

1. Are business cycles and economic structures compatible so that we and others could live comfortably with euro interest rates on a permanent basis?
2. If problems emerge is there sufficient flexibility to deal with them?
3. Would joining EMU create better conditions for firms making long-term decisions to invest in Britain?
4. What impact would entry into EMU have on the competitive position of the UK's financial services industry, particularly the City's wholesale markets?
5. In summary, will joining EMU promote higher growth, stability and a lasting increase in jobs?

The Eurozone countries did not have equivalents, and now are living with the consequences.  However for all the potential benefits of saving the Euro, the European public has not been convinced to do so.  Politicians have failed to prepare the ground for such an eventuality, and so there is no support for any action.  And the inaction is pulling down the Euro in an irresistible slow train wreck.  In order to protect the Euro, it seems necessary to move strongly towards a United States of Europe - which is unpalatable to voters.  Acting in ways that might allow the Euro to survive is pretty much electoral suicide in any Eurozone country (and indeed in GB).  So the inevitable outcome now seems to be the death of the Euro.

The resulting chaos will not be pretty (and not for the UK either - we don't seem to realise how dependent we are on the EU for our own economic well being).  At the end of it the Euro as a single currency will be unthinkable for a couple of generations (at least).  It is possible that it may even lead to a break up of the EU itself (the only way for Greece to leave the Euro at the moment is to leave the EU as well), at least of peripheral countries which will fundamentally change the nature and role of the EU.

The fantasy of some is that this breakup will be easy and simple and lead to the reinstatement of a simple European free trading zone, with very little in the way of legislation slowing down public sector procurement.  My feeling is that this is far off the mark - we are likely to retain much of the restrictive legislation for years as a hangover (at least), whilst restrictions on free trade will be quickly imposed by any country leaving the EU.   But I could be wrong - after all, I was on the Euro.  (I think).

Mixing procurement and politics

My colleague at BIP Solutions, Eddie Reagan, makes a lot of sense about politics and procurement in this blog here.http://www.passprocurement.com/blog/2011/10/11/politicians-and-procurement-dont-mix/