Contracting Emissions
We've launched a new analysis; the carbon emitted by the public sector's supply chain (scope three emissions).
We're calling it Contracting Emissions.
You can see our alpha dashboard here: https://spendnetwork.com/carbon/
The work still has a long way to go, but we're hoping that it can make an impact in public contracting. We'd welcome feedback and thoughts to ian@spendnetwork.com
The Services Sector Opens Up
The WTO have announced a new agreement on the regulation of the services sector in over sixty countries. The deal ensures more transparency on regulation and certification of services companies.
This creates a significant opportunity for international trade on services, particularly in the public sector, where there is a much greater emphasis on services over goods.
Financial services ...
Greece Spends €3 Billion in French Defence Deal.
A few weeks back, when the US, UK and Australian governments announced their surprise military pact, France wore the brunt of the new alliance, with the Australian Government subsequently scrapping its €50 billion nuclear submarine deal with them.
At the same time, the Greek Navy sought bids to upgrade their fleet. Through a tender process, they received ...
UK Government £650 Billion Pipeline.
The UK Government has released plans for the investment of £650 billion of public and private cash into infrastructure projects across the country over the next decade under its new National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline. The investment will support more than 400k jobs between 2021 and 2025, through more than 500 projects.
In 2022 alone, £31 billion ...
Zombie Tenders On The Rise
Across Europe, the number of single bid tenders that only receive one bid continues to grow. Despite the pandemic, the number of contracts awarded after just one bid has been received is staying stubbornly high at 20%.
This means that one in five bids doesn't accrue enough interest to create any competition.
We call these zombie tenders and ...
More Than Half Of Australia’s Procurement Is Uncompetitive
This week, the Australian Government House of Representative standing committee has been presiding over a an inquiry into government procurement practices.
It comes after Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, the Hon Michael McCormack MP, asked the committee to inquire into procurement practices for government-funded infrastructure in June 2021
According to the executive ...
UK and Central America Increase Trade Ties
The UK’s export credit agency UK Export Finance (UKEF), has signed a partnership with Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica (BCIE), Central America’s leading development bank, to encourage the joint financing of major projects. With a mandate to predominantly focus on supporting major infrastructure, clean energy and construction projects.
Both institutions will help finance major projects in Central ...
New Canadian Government Opportunities For Indigenous Businesses
We recently discussed new procurement changes in Australia with the Western Australian government procurement process, which includes specific policies to increase opportunities for Aboriginal businesses. The Government of Canada has recently announced similar changes to provide increased economic opportunities to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis businesses through their federal procurement process.
Through collaboration between Public Services and ...
Will Europe Get Stricter On Procurement?
The EU countries have agreed to pass the International Procurement Instrument (IPI), one that was initially proposed by the European Commission back in 2012.
The purpose of the instrument is to encourage reciprocal trade agreements, particularly from countries that the EU considers less 'open'.
The instrument allows the EU to apply penalties or exclude bidders if they come ...
Has Protectionism Found A New Home?
One of the first acts of the Biden administration was to direct public buyers to buy from American firms. China is apparently doing the same and the EU is seeking to add tariffs to those who make it harder for EU countries to trade with them.
Boris Johnson touted Brexit as a chance to "roll back the ...
Slovenia Strides Forward With Procurement Improvements
Slovenia is slated to join Ukraine as the only public administrations that will routinely monitor contract overspend on all public contracts. What's more, they're doing it in the open. Legislation is currently being passed to mandate the publication of contract identifiers for every item of spending across government.
The initiative will create the most advanced open contracting ...
South Korea Targets SME Growth Through Health Procurement
When selling to governments, SMEs often have challenges with matching the buying power and supply chain strength of larger organisations. For the South Korean Central Government, the pandemic has proved an opportunity to support small and medium-sized enterprises, by focusing on opportunities in the health sector through the provision of pandemic related health supplies to international ...
New Carbon Reporting To Impact 1,000 Suppliers
New rules to help reduce CO2 in public contracting show that at least 720 suppliers will be required to provide a detailed carbon reduction plan if they are to continue to win government contracts.
Procurement Policy Note 06/21 outlines how bidders on contracts worth £5m or more per annum will be expected to provide details of their ...
Trade, Policy And Procurement Meet Again.
The UK's Trade and Agriculture Commission has published its final report, along with twenty-two recommendations, one of which is to direct the UK Government to buy food sourced in the UK.
Recommendation 18: The UK government should review the current public procurement plan for food. In addition to achieving value for money and meeting nutritional requirements, it ...
McGowan Government Enhances Aboriginal Procurement Policy
In 2018, Western Australian Labour Premier Mark McGowan introduced a landmark Aboriginal Procurement policy. The objective of the policy was to improve outcomes for Aboriginal businesses in the state with targeted measures to increase contract awards.
From policy implementation through to the end of 2020, 533 contracts have been awarded, equalling more than $379 million of value ...