Monthly Archives: August 2012

Branson’s Pickle

Wednesday, August 29th, 2012

Branson’s Pickle At the time of going to press it is reported that Virgin Trains have asked for a Judicial Review of the decision to award the InterCity West Coast Franchise to a competitor. The Department of Transport’s procurement actions will be scrutinised and no doubt their Invitation to Tender dated 20 January 2012 will […]

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Conflict of interest

Friday, August 24th, 2012

There have been a number of occasions when we have established contact with solicitor’s practises to consider awarding a contract to represent a client’s interest in a commercial matter. One of the early questions we are asked is, ‘Who is the client and what is the issue?’ This is followed by a request for details […]

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We are all in it together

Monday, August 20th, 2012

We are all in it together! It is a comfort that whistle-blowers are helpful in exposing mismanagement of risk. Sadly, in some cases the whistle-blower’s efforts are unwelcome; see the recent Wirral Council situation. (See press report here) Our research has found Report No. 1004706 from the Washington State Auditor’s Office Washington State Parts and Recreation […]

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All Change!

Friday, August 17th, 2012

ALL CHANGE! Today’s risk is not about Virgin Trains losing the West Coast Franchise. It is about the resistance buyers get when they suggest using a new supplier. How many ‘reasons’ can you think of to block such a change? Here are some we have encountered: –          Their quality won’t be any good –          They […]

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10 procurement questions that expose the whole kit and caboodle*

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

We’re going back to basics with this post. We meet non-procurement specialists with “procurement” responsibilities that just need a ‘nudge’… To set up and manage supplier (vendor or contractor) engagements is tough, especially because some suppliers are much better at bidding than they are at delivering the contract. How do you get the core information […]

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Equipment spares

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

Beware the one-time purchase of equipment spares Imagine that one year ago, your organisation purchased a major piece of capital equipment with a predicted life of seven years, assuming a 14 hour working day, six days a week, for 48 weeks of the year. The supplier, a Japanese company offered you ‘essential spares’, which were […]

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Don’t terminate the contract – it’s too expensive.

Tuesday, July 24th, 2012

Today’s risk is prompted by an articles ‘BBC saves money by giving staff a chauffeur – driven car’, see Sunday Mail 22nd July 2012. It reported, ‘The BBC is spending an estimated £130,000 over two years on a chauffeur-driven car rejected by its chairman Lord Patten because it would ‘incur costs’ to terminate the contract’. […]

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