IT: In the system

Luisa D’Alessandro suggests five essential tips for IT procurement ‘While it is unlikely that an organisation will be able to foresee all future requirements, spending at least some time at the start of a project thinking about how requirements might change in the short to medium term may well result in a better contractual position.’Being …
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Procurement Regulations: Costa lot

Julie Prior and Deborah Ramshaw investigate the application of the procurement regulations to development agreements: Commission v Spain ‘The developer is financially responsible for the execution of the works and is liable to carry out the necessary administrative procedures in order to guarantee that the project is free of charge for the authority and that …
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Outsourcing: In a cold climate

Melanie Collier and Matthew Bennett contemplate the use of the negotiated procedure ‘Rather than focusing on legislative changes, UK public authorities should instead re-evaluate their interpretation and use of the existing Regulations in order to get the most out of the regulatory regime.’ While the state of the economy may have dominated much of David …
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Challenge: Caught in the act (or omission)

Hazel Grant, Adrian Sim and Scott Allardyce outline the position of bidders on a breach of procurement law ‘The Regulations set out a number of requirements that contracting authorities must comply with, depending on the specific award procedure being used (whether open, restricted, competitive, dialogue or negotiated).’Compliance with procurement law is often seen as the …
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Update: Power to the people

Jack Hayward considers outsourcing and employee-led businesses ‘It was refreshing to see that the European Parliament has returned determined to address one of the key preoccupations of the internal market, namely how to encourage more SME involvement in the supply of public sector goods and services.’The coalition’s agenda on the ‘Big Society’ has always included …
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Remedies: All change?

Dr Totis Kotsonis examines the remedies regime and considers the question of how effective this really is ‘The implementation of Directive 2007/66/EC into UK law, and the further amendment of the procurement legislation, have led to the transformation of the remedies system available for breaches of UK public procurement law.’For a long time, the remedies …
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Health And Safety At Work: Not just a fine

Hilary Ross discusses the fining of Marks and Spencers ‘The M&S case shows us that one of the thorniest scenarios is where there is a degree of overlap between the operations of the customer and the supplier. In such cases, it is essential to ensure that all potential issues are identified and each party’s role …
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Contract: Secret agents

Tom Collins looks at the impact of the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 ‘Fundamentally, it has to be shown that it is in the commercial interests of the principal to have an agent who will expend his own time, money and skill to develop the market.’The Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 (the Regulations) …
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