The outsourcing market is one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK today. Local government contracts alone, were worth an estimated £30.5bn last year. Understanding the size and shape of such a rapidly growing marketplace is, therefore, crucial if…

This article will guide you through three key lessons that we can learn from Kelly’s all-too-brief public sector career: from managing vendors, to fostering innovation and embracing and learning from both failure… and success. Last month, chief operating officer and…

Selecting and managing suitable suppliers often requires a much greater emphasis on communicating your business outcomes to them, along with much more subtlety and finesse in managing the emotional stakes, than many realise. The importance of strong supplier relationships from…

Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) is an incredibly useful step in the procurement process, especially when one of the more restrictive procedures is to be selected. However, essential though it may be, PME has until now been largely ignored. New EU…

As outsourcing continues to gain popularity with both commercial-sector businesses and public-sector bodies, the importance of a strong and well resourced intelligent client function (ICF) team that has the skills and commercial awareness to drive maximum value from complex client/vendor…

With so many pieces in play on the metaphorical chessboard of complex service-provider relationships, to ensure success in achieving your business outcomes it is important to know how each will move. Who are the advocates, the obstructers and the fence-sitters?…

Supplier relationships can be complicated, they can be messy and they can at times be self- destructive. Poor planning, insufficient research, ambiguous contracts and conflicting agendas – all can contribute. These errors or omissions don’t even need to be substantial…

With the 2015 general election rapidly approaching, understanding the politics behind public-sector outsourcing is essential for organisations that are considering tendering soon for these lucrative, though often very complex, relationships. Things seem to be getting quite politically polarised – Shadow Secretary of…

The degree to which organisations engage in the strategic commissioning process can greatly affect the future of their service delivery partnership, their relationship with the service provider, and can even dictate whether they save money or incur costs that they…

Effective knowledge management is one of the most important tools at your company’s disposal, but learning to collect, analyse and disseminate knowledge effectively requires more than just good data management technology. Despite the fact that most organisations understand the value…

In today’s cost-conscious world, everyone says they are looking out for ways to save time, money and resources. However, the reality is still that far too few connect the dots to make the true savings that are possible, to cut…

The pressure on procurement teams can be immense when considering project partners, and with vendor-side sales people pulling in one direction and often client-side policy pulling in another, deciding on how to pay for your project can be a challenge.…

September 2012 David Taylor Smith (Chief Operating Officer) Fired after Olympics blunder | May 2013 Nick Buckles (Group CEO) Resigns | October 2013 Richard Morris (Regional CEO) Quit in wake of the tagging controversy | June 2014 Eddie Aston (Regional…

Why is it that no matter how clearly, simply or concisely you communicate your expectations, there will be times when what you get back bears no resemblance to what you were asking for? Is it your communication style, a training…

Despite hopes to the contrary, we continue to regularly hear about the failure or abandonment of all too many projects. There are no shortage of uncomfortable headlines in the press about relationship breakdowns, cost overruns and deliverables left undelivered. These…

Fixed fees are often seen as the ultimate goal for buyers when negotiating a new project with a vendor. But while fixed-fee projects can offer a degree of certainty on both sides, if needs and costs are not determined with…

Once unquestioned as one of the UK public sector’s main service providers, Serco have had to face a number of challenges in their service delivery and management team of late. As a result, could it be said that Serco are…

How many times have you been involved in what was billed as a crucial project, only to see it fall at the first hurdle? For many businesses in the private and public sector, juggling numerous projects at any given time…

Big changes are afoot for the public sector procurement process after a whole new raft of legislation was approved by the European Parliament in January. The most recent of these directives, to be implemented by each Member State within the…

We all feel a little out of our depth at times. Even the most experienced individuals occasionally find themselves out of their comfort zones. After all, no one person can know everything, which is why it is so important to…

‘Chief Executives beware’ was the implied message from UNISON in respect of a recent employment tribunal decision that went against Barnet Council. UNISON’s recent press release suggested it was celebrating the conclusion of their “two year battle” against Barnet Council…

The clue is in the name – private finance is at the heart of PFI. It is what distinguishes PFI from other forms of contract and other ways of providing public assets. What this means, in practice, is that whoever…

The complexity and length of PFI contracts and the upward pressure on the unitary charge (due to inflation, the cost of contract variations and the contractors’ desire for profit, among other things) mean that multi-million pound deficits can accumulate if…

It was only last week that we were (or so we thought) reporting on BT’s latest public sector partnership issues with One Connect and Lancashire County Council… and yet it’s BT’s relationship with Liverpool County Council that is in the…

PFI indexation, as with other issues affecting affordability, is inextricably linked with the operational side of the contract, so those responsible for PFI contract management must take responsibility for dealing with indexation, and not leave it just to the finance…

The payment mechanism is the primary means for ensuring a PFI contractor performs. PFI contracts distinguish between ‘Availability’ and ‘Performance’ and to control costs, it is therefore essential that clients keep track of Availability and Performance deductions in PFI contracts.…

When it was announced recently that One Connect Limited, the £400 million strategic partnership between BT and Lancashire County Council, was to be wound down, it is likely there would have been surprised looks in the room for individuals not…

The need to control PFI costs is of paramount importance to any public sector organisation, yet often those responsible for PFI finance and the contract arrangements can work ‘in silo’ creating (inadvertently) a lack of cost control. Collaborative working, therefore,…

When complex strategic relationships between public bodies and private sector vendor organisations start to veer off track it can often seem too daunting a task to refocus vendor performance on the original business outcomes expected and agreed. With productivity levels…

In 2007, when Southwest One was formed as a joint venture between private sector Goliath IBM, Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane Borough Council, and Avon and Somerset Police, many pointed to it as a trailblazing move: an exemplar of how…

When state-funded public services were opened up to private sector competition in the 1990s with the introduction of Public Sector Mutuals, many wondered whether this would herald the death knell for the ‘traditional’ government-funded workforce that had held its monopoly…

As most PFI contracts span a period of 20 to 30 years, they tend to have built-in provisions for periodic price realignment, based on market rates for similar services. Although the responsibility for managing this process rests with the contractor,…

When entering into a new strategic relationship for outsourcing or a major technology solution project, the agreement at some point in its formation will be subjected to time pressures from internal or external sources. It could be that the client…

With HM Treasury now allowing procuring organisations to keep all the savings they achieve from effective management and the realignment of PFI contracts, this provides an ideal opportunity for you to review the governance, structure and scope of your operational…

The PFI monitoring calendar is an essential tool for you, as the client, to stay on top of the responsibilities of your PFI contractor and its sub-contractors, as well as your own responsibilities. In this article we focus on how…

Although it sounds like a mundane issue, a good PFI document management and filing system is an essential tool for effective contract management. The need for an efficient filing system for management of any complex contract should be self-evident; however,…

The thought of attending yet another meeting with your PFI contractor may seem like a pointless chore… you may feel that there’s too much talk and too little action by your contractor thereafter. Yet, there are ways in which you…

Contractor responsibility for the PFI life cycle of the assets is a fundamental principle in PFI contracts. The related costs form a significant element in the unitary charge. Ensuring that the PFI life cycle programme is well managed and meets…

In PFI assets with considerable public or end user traffic, such as libraries, leisure centres, schools, offices and prisons, there is a high risk of regular incidents of vandalism and other types of damage caused by client-related parties. The costs…

The perception of honesty and integrity in the outsourcing sector has been shaken in the wake of the negative media coverage of Serco and G4S and the announcement on 12 Dec. that both firms lost their tagging contracts. While many…