What started on a small scale in the 1980s and was championed by the Labour Party in the early 2000s), has become the £280bn+ business of outsourcing in the UK. While large single supplier outsourcing relationships were all the rage…

Environmental concerns have been high on the political agenda for a number of years, so when Britain’s number one energy-from-waste business, Viridor Waste Management – a subsidiary of the FTSE 250 environmental utility infrastructure company Pennon Group PLC – is…

The London Stock Market is in challenged circumstances due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) being declared a pandemic. Even before this, Capita’s share value had declined significantly, only to fall even further (in amongst the rest of the world’s stock markets)…

Another failed procurement funded by taxpayers, the London Garden Bridge, a floral link between Temple and the South Bank and a tribute to the late Princess Diana, was going to be one of the prides of our capital. It was…

To achieve success in outsourced projects, you need to enlist the help of skilled people, placed in the right roles, while allowing them the freedom necessary to bring their skills and expertise to bear on the project. Nothing new there…

Big changes are afoot for the public sector procurement process after a whole new raft of legislation was approved by the European Parliament in January. The most recent of these directives, to be implemented by each Member State within the…

In recent years the massive tectonic plates of change have shifted significantly from a status-quo where organisations have been comfortable with long-term, hands-off arrangements with outsourced service provision across a variety of disciplines to one where every aspect of the…

Outsourcing, managed and commissioned services are prone to relationship problems, with around half failing due to partners not performing to client expectation. You will be well aware that a lack of performance kills trust, but may be less aware of…

Outsourcing has once again been in the public eye due to two recent high profile project failures. Last month, MI5 abandoned its reported £90m digital records management system over concerns that implementation of the system would lead to an “intelligence…

In last week’s post on using an expert to fix a failing provider relationship we touched upon the fact that repairing a relationship is almost always better than terminating one. Termination is a rocky road to travel down. The potential…

It’s a common situation. An organisation is very disappointed with what they perceive to be a failing provider relationship, unsatisfactory service delivery from a strategic provider, and they want out of the contract. They appreciate that exiting a service provider,…

Although Councils are tasked with slashing budgets whilst maintaining (or even increasing) the quality of public services, the endorsement of local authority strategic commissioning as a potential solution is seen by many councillors as dangerous ground upon which to tread.…

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…

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…