Procurement Training

 Well its summer, and naturally everyone's minds turn to planning procurement training for the rest of the year.

No?

Just me then.

But a reminder that as well as working through a list of partner organisations, we also offer bespoke and off the shelf training programmes directly.  These can be either face to face or online.  

We offer courses covering a wide range of commercial skills, especially those related to procurement and supply chain management.  The courses are suitable for both public and private sectors, and often for both buyers and sellers.

Course topics can include;

- The Procurement Act 2023 (which is topical)

- Procurement & Supply Chain Management

- Supplier Management

- Contract Management (my lawyer friends point out I am not a lawyer, and I point out that is why I run this course - the focus is on getting what we want, not detailed legal issues)

- Commercial Negotiation

- Tender evaluation processes

- Commercial awareness

AND a range of other things in related areas.

If you are interested, drop me a note or give me a call.

Action Sustainability - Assessing the Procurement Act 2023

 We had a very interesting online conference yesterday, hosted by Action Sustainability.  It had quite a Welsh flavour with the speakers being Robert Vaughn of the Department of Transport, Carl Thomas of the Welsh government and Diane Brooks of Lyreco Wales.  I was the warm up act, doing PA2023 in 20 minutes (never mind the 630 pages of guidance, eh?  20 mins?  Sure I didnt miss TOO much out...)

Action Sustainability will be making a recording available at some point (as I said, I'm on first so you can skip to the 30 minute mark to hear the real practitioners talking).

There was a strong focus on SMEs during the presentations, which is a favourite topic of mine.

We had some good questions from the 600 attendees (well not all of them).

One made the very good point that the designation SME covers a broad range of businesses, and that a company with 230 employees is a very very different entity to one with 23, (or particularly 2 or 3).  I have some hopes that the flexibility in the PA2023 for the lowest value contracts (below £30k or £12k inc VAT, depending on the contracting body) will allow Contracting Authorities to tap into the pool of Small and Micro businesses.  But of course that is not guaranteed.

Another point was about ethics, and as we had delegates from all four nations it is probably useful to point out that as well as the national Procurement Review Unit, there is Wales PRU, a Scottish Single point of enquiry, and Northern Ireland Construction & Procurement delivery teams covering devolved procurements.  

One delegate was concerned about ethical breaches in the construction industry, which of course had a significant Cartel case in the 2000s.  Their point was that offenders aren't seen as suffering the consequences, and of course the consequences are being beefed up in the PA2023.  Another delegate pointed out that whistleblowers in the industry are at risk of blacklisting, which of course is not legal but may still occur.  They were asking if the PRU would protect whistleblowers.  There is government guidance on whistleblowing here.  It is not clear to me if referrals to the PRU can be anonymous, but I'll try and check.

And finally of course we reminded everyone about the new consultation about potential changes - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/public-procurement-growing-british-industry-jobs-and-skills-consultation-on-further-reforms-to-public-procurement

Deadline 5th September 2025.

Consultation on changes to Public Procurement

The Procurement Act 2023 has been in place since 24th February 2025.  The government is now starting a consultation on proposed changes.  These are mostly fairly minor, and are about extending the requirements placed on Central government departments to cover all contracting authorities (and a bit more clarification on SMEs and Social Value).

The deadline for responses is 5th September 2025, so you have a couple of months to respond (but don't forget).  The link is here .

My first thoughts are (as above) nothing to significant.  But I'll have a think and share my responses when I submit them.

Always interested in hearing/reading other people's thoughts too.

25 not out

Today PAWA Consulting Ltd completes the 25th year of operation.  The business has been running slightly longer, having started as Paul Andrew Wright Associates 1st July 1998.

So, still here. And happily planning on being so for the foreseeable future.  

Which is good, as we have some significant changes to come in our 26th year of operations - details to follow.

But in the meantime, thanks to all of the clients, delegates, colleagues, friends, people I met (Red Dwarf reference if you are wondering).  Hope to see you all again. 
 

Assessing the Procurement Act 2023 - 24th July 2025 - Free conference

 

I am delighted to be contributing to an online conference on the Procurement Act 2023 on Thursday 24th July 2025.

It is being organised by the Supply Chain Sustainability School, delivered by Action Sustainability.

I am doing a brief into the PA2023, before we have 3 expert presentations.  Then there will be questions to the panel.

Even better (for you) it is free to attend.

Full sign up details are here.

I'm pleased to say that we already have a considerable audience signed up.  Hope to see  there.

Tariffs again...

 Well, the transatlantic tariffs situation is still not clear.  At the time of writing it seems that there will be a 50% tariff imposed on EU goods by the USA from 1 July.  But this deadline has already been postponed once, and maybe again.  And the size of the tariff may change.  And then again, the courts have decided that the current tariffs should are not permissible in law and if the US government wishes to apply then it has to be done by Congress, and not by the Executive claiming (rather ridiculously*) an economic emergency.

I do not pretend to know what is going to happen, but as Procurement and Supply Chain professionals we should take this chance to shine within our own organisations.  This period of high volatility will create both challenges and opportunities.

We need to be constantly reviewing the situation and developing (then implementing) appropriate plans.

Obviously we have to consider what it will mean if there are tariffs or reciprocal tariffs in our supply chains.  We need to check what these are (or might be) and then consider our supplier's approach is going to be.  Some will take this as an opportunity to raise prices to the full extent of tariff rate (even if there is a draw back arrangement, or if tariffs only apply to half of the product...).  Others (dare I say more sensible) will see this as an opportunity to have more dialogue with their customers ("we don't know any more than you do, but we have to work together...").

But don't forget the opportunities that might arise from displacement effects - Chinese and EU goods unable to win market space in the USA because of high tariffs will look to find other customers.  This might lead to price reductions as they seek to gain space in currently well served markets.

Whether we want to take advantage of that (risking existing relationships for a possibly temporary advantage) is of course the sort of thing we ought to be discussing internally and developing appropriate strategies.

Good luck

* The Global Financial Crisis of 2008/9 and Covid-19 in 2020 were obvious economic emergencies.  The USA in 2025 was the fastest growing major economy, had actually caught up the growth trend line from before Covid, had 4% unemployment (technically full employment) and 2.5% inflation (just 0.5% above target) - Clearly not an emergency, though of course governments are free to adopt whatever policies they wish following due process.

The Procurement Act in Practice for Suppliers - PASS Procurement 5th June 2025

I am running a training event for PASS Procurement of BIP Solutions on Thursday 5th June 2025 that focuses on what the Procurement Act 2023 means for Suppliers.

It is quite understandable that businesses are not aware of all the possibilities and challenges of new regulation, and I hope to be able to guide you through the new processes in a way that helps you to win more public sector business.

The course is online and full details are available at the link here.

If you cannot make 5th June there is another running on 8th July, but with my colleague Gemma rather than me.  You may, of course, prefer that!

Hope to see you there