CPV Codes – In principle brilliant, in practice, hopeless.
Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes were implemented in 1993 as a standard classification system for public tenders across Europe. The codes are eight digits long and each one has a corresponding description, intended to cover a broad range of supplies, services, and works. However, it’s guaranteed that the one code you need, you’ll never find. […]
“Innovation in Procurement” the next new buzz phrase?
John Denham, the Communities Secretary, is urging councils to spend their £42 billion budgets creatively. He has suggested that they should ask suppliers to provide a solution, rather than determining the answer themselves and that they should use their buying power to shape markets or to meet clear social needs.
UK Construction firms fined £129.5 million for illegal anti-competitive bid-rigging activities
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has fined 103 companies including many of the UK’s largest construction companies such as Kier, Interserve, Try Accord, Carillion and Balfour Beatty for colluding with competitors to rig the pricing of contracts worth more than £200 million. Kier was fined £17.9m, more than any other building company. Interserve was […]
Health board urged by police to pull out of contract with taxi firm
Strathclyde Police have asked Greater Glasgow Health Board to pull out of a patient transport contract as the firm has links to serious organised crime. The Glasgow Herald reports that the taxi firm, Network Private Hire, was raided in 2004 as part of the Operation Maple money-laundering probe. The Scottish National Party MSP, Stewart Maxwell, […]
To Bid or Not to Bid
Selecting the right contracts to go for is critical to the growth of your business. So often we waste a huge amount of time responding to tenders we are destined never to win. It can be due to a lack of resources, limited experience or it simply just doesn’t fit with your core business. Here’s […]