The government has opened a consultation on plans to prevent councils boycotting goods and services from countries when such a move would conflict with UK foreign policy.
Bid-rigging drives up contract costs, cheating buyers into paying more than they should. But procurers can detect the tricks and frustrate this practice
The government has improved the way it manages outsourced public services contracts, but these reforms are fragile and could still fail, the Institute for Government has warned.
The Cabinet Office severely underestimated the difficulty of implementing joint buying across government through the Crown Commercial Service, according to a report from the National Audit Office.
In May 2014, the Defence Reform Act passed into law and ushered in radical changes in defence procurement. Two years on, are there lessons to learn for other areas of taxpayer-funded purchasing?
EU procurement rules often get bad press but they have not yet had a high profile in the UK referendum debate on membership. But they lie at the heart of the internal market and often have a big...
Putting NHS contracts out to tender may be controversial, but it can help match services to local needs and ensure value for money. However, bad execution could lead to a loss of public faith in...
The government exceeded a target to spend a quarter of Whitehall’s procurement budget with small- and medium-sized business by 2014/15, figures from the Cabinet Office have revealed.
Prime Minister David Cameron has announced a change to public procurement rules that will require Whitehall departments to take offers of apprenticeships into account when awarding large government...
A forthcoming report by the Electoral Reform Society is to raise concerns that local authorities dominated by a single political party appear more prone to corruption than councils where there is a...
A National Audit Office report on open-book accounting creates the opportunity to develop new measures for greater transparency and accountability for outsourced public services
Public sector procurement needs to become increasingly commercial in its approach. Better market intelligence and contract management are key to doing it smarter