Monthly Archives: October 2014

Hello Tesco You reported recently that you have agreed an early start for your new Finance Director following the £250m “error” in the accounts. Sir Richard Broadbent, your Chairman, in an effort to explain the financial difficulties, said recently: “Things are always unnoticed until they are noticed,” Some of the problems appear to lay in your treatment of the […]

We typically keep our heads down rather than highlighting who we are working with. Confidentiality on commercial matters underpins our approach to business. On this occasion we thought our involvement with the South Koreans on specialist business practices would be of some interest.  This follows a previous engagement with the South Korean Embassy in London.  The current delegation […]

High value projects present potentially financial, operational and legal risks. What can we learn from a deep-water port in Alaska, regarding the way we approach these type of projects? The U.S. Department of Transportation has shed light on the development and modernisation of the Port of Anchorage, and comments on the other projects at Hawaii […]

Is it unreasonable for a Board of Directors to believe that a professional procurement operation will have a positive relationship with in-house legal services? This crucial relationship should be such that contractual detail is thoroughly understood and negotiated prior to contract signature. We hold the view that Procurement should be the custodian of contractual risk […]

A procurement risk management policy serves two main purposes: to identify, reduce and prevent undesirable incidents or outcomes (by suppliers – and buyers!) and to review past incidents and implement changes to prevent or reduce future incidents (by suppliers – and buyers!). For example, a Head of Category Management may utilise their procurement risk management […]

There isn’t (yet) a firm date.  I can hear you groaning, but at least you know that as of 4 August 2014. ;) However, the new Directives are now part of EU law and so it can already be applied in the UK. In applying it, no-one could be accused of breaching EU law. However, the […]

Here we go, alphabetical order: Acquisition The process of requirement setting, procure, support management and disposal, implying a whole-life approach to acquiring defence capability. (Also see Cost of Ownership.) Agreement in Principle This is another qualifying comment. It means that it is not formally accepted, thus leaving the door open to the seller to withdraw […]