In November the National Audit Office (NAO) released a new report on contract management, and because we found it so insightful we’ve decided to dedicate a few articles to the subject and to the findings of the report. This particular…

Even before the age of austerity, the public sector has often had to find ways to do more with less. And now, this remit is more crucial than ever. In an era when public funding has been cut sharply, many…

A date has been set for Cornwall Council to meet BT in the High Court. On 1 December 2015, both sides will have the opportunity to explain just why the ten-year £300m outsourcing contract that bound them together was ended…

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…

As everyone knows, the public sector has never been a great ‘financial bonus giver’. After all, we’re just that little bit less likely to vote for any politician who openly supports the provision of financial bonuses paid via the public…

Cornwall County Council leader Alec Robertson was ousted from his role last week in the wake of his attempts to finalise a hefty strategic commissioning contract. Robertson planned to outsource various Council services in a deal worth £300m. This followed…

Cloud computing is becoming more and more relevant to public sector organisations. After all, the much-publicised G-Cloud Plan calls for 50% of new government IT spending to move to cloud computing services by 2015. However, adoption of CloudStore products has been…

Imagine that there is a small-scale model of a planned development on display at your local council. Although it gives a good representation of what the finished building will look like, most of the detail is lost in the scale.…

There is an unfortunate mistake that many organisations make when first considering strategic commissioning. That mistake may seem so small as to be irrelevant, but it can make all the difference between a successful long term partnership and a contract…

Local authorities have been badly hit by the austerity measures being put in place by Central Government. That fact has been apparent for several years. Not only are authorities dealing with an increase in demands from their constituents, they are…

Many local authorities are in dire financial straits. There is an ever-increasing pressure to take a hatchet to costs. They have to invent, experiment and pilot new ways of delivering services in a culture that is extremely averse to risk.…