Monthly Archives: November 2012

It has been reported that the BBC have paid ‘headhunters’ Egon Zehnder, fees of almost £400,000 plus VAT to fill 3 senior BBC vacancies since 2010. These positions were the digital media director, head of vision and the Director General. The process twice produced internal candidates, one of which was George Entwistle. Egon Zehnder, it […]

West Coast Franchise – Questions for the Minister Almost everyone is familiar with the Minister’s announcement about the West Coast Railway Franchise. It is interesting to see the commentaries emanating from all sources – being wise after the event. Readers of our briefings (see Brian Farrington Ltd news August 29th 2012) will recall that instantly […]

We’ve tendered the requirement, undertaken due diligence, sought and obtained executive approval, awarded the contract and debriefed the unsuccessful contractors. Job done? No – it’s only just begun. Now the Contract needs to be managed. I recently heard a Contractor state that his first action on being awarded a contract was to open a Claims […]

Key Performance Indicators The risk of not knowing how a supplier is performing is unacceptable. Our risk auditing services regularly provide evidence that no KPI’s exist or have not been subjected to rigorous scrutiny before they have been included in a contract. We dealt with a contract for the provision of security services to a […]

The complex world of Bonds – a business briefing. The word ‘Bond’ is regularly used in procurement, often with regard to construction projects or capital equipment procurement. In order to apply, and include Bonds effectively in contracts, requires specialist knowledge, particularly, but not exclusively, by procurement. We are dedicating this whole week of Risk briefing […]

Empty Vessels The problem of inaccurate drafting of contracts is a recurring theme in court cases. In the case of Wuhan Guoyu Logistics Group Co Ltd and Yangzhou Guoya Shipbuilding Co Ltd v Emporiki Bank of Greece SA [2012] EWCH 1715 (Comm) there is another instance of inaccuracy. The contract was for the construction of […]

THE PROCUREMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Introduction Brian Farrington Limited (BFL) have been involved in many IT procurements of varying value and with varying degrees of corporate risk attached to them. There are frequently challenges for IT and Procurement specialists. Not the least of these challenges is the purchase of technology that neither IT nor Procurement […]