Wednesday 21 December 2011

New London Training courses for Oil and Gas industry in 2012

I shall be presenting a new range of courses in London in 2012.  They are aimed at the oil and gas industry, but most will have much wider applications than that.  Contact me for further details.
20th February - 24th February 2012
Best Practices in Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals
Effective Purchasing and Supply for the Oil and Gas Industry

20th February - 2nd March
Advanced Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

27th February - 2nd March
Effective Project Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

26th March - 30th March
Successful Negotiation in Procurement and Sourcing

16th April - 20th April
Maximising Performance via Supply Chain Management in Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

14th May - 18th May
International Sourcing and Purchasing for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

14th May - 25th May
The Complete Programme for Sourcing and Purchasing within the Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals Fields

21st May - 25th May
Advanced International Sourcing and Purchasing for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

11th June - 15th June
Effective Purchasing and Supply for the Oil and Gas Industry

2nd July - 6th July
Effective Project Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

17th September - 28th September
The Complete Programme for Sourcing and Purchasing within the Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals Fields

24th September - 28th September
Advanced International Sourcing and Purchasing for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

1st October - 5th October
Best Practices in Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

1st October - 12th October
Advanced Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals

8th October - 12th October
Effective Project Procurement Management for Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals 
26th November - 30th November
Maximising Performance via Supply Chain Management in Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals 
3rd December - 7th December
Successful Negotiation in Procurement and Sourcing

Tuesday 20 December 2011

Course dates for 2012

I shall be presenting the event Developing Compliant Evaluation Processes for BIP Solutions in Manchester on 20th March 2012, and Birmingham on 10th April 2012.  Hope to see you there.  Details on the BIP solutions website.

Thursday 15 December 2011

New book on Public Sector Procurement


Our new book is now published by Cambridge Academic, and is called “Excellence in Public Sector Procurement in Public Sector Procurement-How to control costs and add value”
Co-authored with Stuart Emmett, it has been written because whilst, there are many general books covering Procurement, not many cover solely the public sector.
Yet this sector spends colossal amounts of taxpayer’s money on goods and services; the NHS alone, for example, is one the largest organisations in the world.
The UK public sector also has its own peculiarities and differences from the private sector, for example, the EU Procurement Rules that guide and direct how purchasing must be undertaken.  At regional and local level there are additional priorities, which are often subject to political oversight.  In addition there are opportunities to use Procurement as a tool for wider objectives.
It may be that such regulation constrains and limits procurement best practice and therefore such tensions will also be briefly explored in the book. However the main thrust of the book, will be the requirement to work working within the existing rules and guidelines.
The style of the book is our usual one of being direct with little jargon. It covers all of the basics as well as providing detailed and wider discussions to encourage thought and practical application. To facilitate practical application, the book is illustrated by case studies and application checklists.
The contents cover the following main sections:
Part one. Procurement Objectives
·         Procurement Evolution and The Supply Chain
·         Strategic and Organizational Procurement
·         Procurement Objectives
·         The 5 Rights
·         Product and Services Differences
·         Procurement by the Strategic Requirements
Part two: The Procurement Cycle
·         Needs/Specifying
·         Sourcing
·         Enquiry and Evaluation
·         Tendering in the Public Sector
·         Order placing and Contracts
·         Handling orders
·         Progressing and Delivery
·         Loss and Disputes
·         Balancing Commercial and social objectives
Part three. Public Sector Procurement Frameworks
·         Overview
·         The Regulatory framework
·         Lower Value Procurements
·         Best Value concepts
·         SME concordat
Part four. Best Practice and Contexts
·         Suppliers pricing
·         Relationship based approaches
·         Outsourcing with NHS Case Study
·         Private Finance Initiative
·         ICT and E- Procurement
·         ICT Project Procurement
·         Buying from the third sector
·         Supplier Development
·         Contract  Management      
·         Budget management  
Part five. Public Sector Procurement: some Conclusions
·         Size of the public sector
·         Controversy: Is tendering the best way?
Appendices
·         Public sector Procurement in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
·         International Public Procurement challenges

This book is intended for:
·         Professional managers in all public sector procurement and supply roles and positions.
·         Suppliers in the private sector who need to understand the public sector
·         Academics such as lecturers or students studying business topics like procurement, purchasing and the supply chain
·         Students of professional institutes such as the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Institute of Supply Management and others.
The book is available right now from:

Thursday 8 December 2011

Excellence in Public Sector Procurement - comments and corrections

We stated in the book that any corrections, new insights and reader comments would be welcome at this blog.  The book took about two years to write and publish, but even so there are bound to be some mistakes - we welcome the chance to correct them here is our readers tell us about them.  There will also be a number of differences of opinion - which we would like to be able to debate.  Finally in a fast moving environment such as public sector procurment there are bound to be changes - which we shall try to keep track of here.  Once such is the new EC procurement thresholds which apply from 1 January 2012 - see here.

We look forward to hearing from you.