Monthly Archives: December 2014

How to win public sector contracts

Tuesday, December 30th, 2014

Public sector contracts can be valuable, beyond the profit margin (regular payment, high profile, opportunity for work across the sector). However, the bidding process is onerous! The pre-qualification questionnaire seeks to filter out companies that aren’t capable. However, they don’t make it very easy. Requirements such as showing you’ve undertaken ten contracts in three years, […]

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Liquidated Damages – it never rains but it pours

Thursday, December 4th, 2014

  Liquidated Damages (LD’s) are a misunderstood and emotive concept for procurement specialists. A starting point for clarity is the fact that in English Law a penalty clause is illegal. An LD clause is penal if it provides for payment of money stipulated as ‘in terrorem’ of the offending party to force him to perform […]

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A very un-English blog post

Monday, November 24th, 2014

Why Brian Farrington? There are three themes that clients tell us over and over again. First, they tell us they believe they are making a smarter investment working with Brian Farrington Ltd — bringing a thorough understanding of their procurement risk issues and a proven track record of enabling excellent returns on their investment. Second, our […]

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The story of two people, a double-dip recession and one opportunity

Wednesday, October 29th, 2014

From a certain little town near London, two people forged careers in procurement through the double-dip recession and beyond, to the present day as we near 2015. Both of them had enjoyed the same educational opportunities, and so far as anyone could judge, their prospects for success were equal but found themselves with very different outcomes.. One […]

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How to get your contract risks under control!

Monday, October 27th, 2014

The English Courts are full, everyday, of Buyers and Sellers who screwed up a contract. Don’t join that club. This one day highly interactive practical workshop “How to get your contract risks under control!” will give you the tools and techniques to get your contract risks under control. This is guidance and solutions-driven, not a […]

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Skilful questioning, careful listening

Tuesday, October 14th, 2014

The skilled negotiator will be aware of the impact of good questions in a negotiation. For example building relationships, learning, avoiding misunderstanding, mitigating emotion (health warning! tone, body language and wording needs to be considered carefully – actually true for the other examples as well) – and most importantly persuading the other party to your […]

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What is Procurement Expertise?

Friday, October 10th, 2014

Procurement expertise includes the ability to: Manage Supplier risk Optimise spending (value for money) Increase Supplier value Improve Supplier communications Optimise Supplier portfolio Improve Supplier performance Comply with governance requirements More importantly, the work is underpinned by the critical need to inspire trust in the organisation’s leadership team that the Procurement Leaders have the requisite knowledge, […]

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