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Dr Stuart Thomson looks at the importance of policy development ‘The party conferences are not just about politicians and their advisers but party members, local councillors, trade unions, the media and other campaigning groups. These could all be stakeholders that are important to a campaign.’Involvement in the development of policy can take many different forms, …
Continue reading "Policy: Decisions, decisions, decisions"
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Jack Hayward reports on a collision between outsourcing and procurement ‘Procurement exercises around adult social care provision, procurement of external ambulance services, and the procurement of providers for social housing have all given rise to controversy and legal challenge by way of Judicial Review.’Outsourcing and procurement can make a toxic brew. When organisations in the …
Continue reading "Update: Challenging behaviour"
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Paul Pugh looks at the relationship between procurement and the third sector ‘The Treasury consultation document describes social enterprises as businesses with primarily social objectives, spanning a variety of business models and legal structures.’In the keynote address at Voice ’09 conference, Rt Hon David Cameron MP said:I want social enterprise to be at the heart …
Continue reading "The Third Sector: Speak my language – does procurement understand the third sector?"
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Jonathan Parker provides a timely reminder of the time limits for bringing a procurement challenge ‘Until recently the [Judicial Review] route provided the benefit of a longer time limit for commencing action. However, following reforms to the judicial review system, claims based on grounds arising on or after 1 July 2013 must be commenced within …
Continue reading "Practice: Waiting for no man"
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Peter Jansen considers the lessons to be learned from Metrolink ‘This article considers the contractual route for obtaining disclosure in light of the Greater Manchester case.’Not all forms of dispute resolution permit disclosure or extensive investigation of a claim. This applies to adjudication, a deliberately summary procedure under the HGCRA (the Act), as it does …
Continue reading "Disclosure: Coming off the rails"
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Dr Sam De Silva reviews practice on contract renewal ‘In practice, the circumstances in which exit could occur need to beconsidered as they are likely to significantly affect the willingness of both parties to co-operate on exit, the timing of the required activities and the attitude of the parties to paying for the cost of …
Continue reading "Contracting: End of the affair"
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Dr Stuart Thomson reviews the significance of consultation ‘As consultation becomes a “process” there is a need to be able to prove that at every step sufficient efforts were made. It is not enough to say what was done, a developer or government, needs to have the paper trail in place to be able to …
Continue reading "Procedure: It’s good to talk"
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Jo Ludlam and Yindi Gesinde highlight the merits of framework agreements Technically, authorities can go outside of a framework (if the provisions of the framework permit), but if they do the procurement rules as set out in the PCR will apply with full rigour.In the recent Department of Health (DoH) publication, NHS Procurement: Raising our …
Continue reading "Contracting: Getting in the right frame(work) of mind"
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Clare Arthurs and Sebastian Kokelaar assess the implications of a recent decision in the Supreme Court The bank’s interpretation was, arguably, commercially implausible, whereas on the claimants’ interpretation the whole of para 2 could be said to be redundant.In Rainy Sky SA v Kookmin Bank [2011] the Supreme Court revisited the principles governing the construction …
Continue reading "Contract: I can see clearly now… interpreting contracts post-Rainy Sky"
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Hazel Grant reviews the impact of the Unison case This case is confirmation that interested third parties can use public law remedies in response to flawed procurements, although, as might be expected, the threshold for successful use of these remedies is high.Challenges under the Public Contract Regulations 2006 (the Regulations) are reserved to economic operators, …
Continue reading "Litigation: Unhealthy challenges"
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