Public Spend Forum – Public Procurement news from this week |

Public Spend Forum (PSF) is a public sector procurement global community and market intelligence platform dedicated to improving public procurement. GovShop is its free-to-use government market research tool for finding and connecting with suppliers. Here’s the latest:

What if the Offices Stay Empty?

As public procurement operations continue to be performed with part or all of the staff working from home, the question arises: What if the offices stay empty? In this recent PSF article Dustin Lanier asks: could procurement stay virtual? Our workforce going more virtual is one of the many factors that have to be considered in planning and designing for the New Normal, he says. A procurement shop does not inherently require an in-person presence to serve a citizen, like a police station or a hospital. There is an opportunity to deeply rethink our traditional protocols and have procurement transform in place. Read his thoughts here.

GovShop celebrates veteran-owned businesses

In honor of Memorial Day, GovShop is celebrating its family of Veteran-Owned Businesses — such as Jefferson South Solutions. A Service-Disabled and Veteran-Owned Small Business, Jefferson South Solutions provides educational and training support by developing curriculum, facilitating workshops, focus groups, symposiums, and other tailored training events. Learn more about their tremendous work and the work of other vendors on GovShop.

Responding to COVID-19: Verified Personal Protective Equipment Suppliers (PPE)

To minimise issues of personal protective equipment deals going wrong, or awarding contracts to unqualified suppliers, resulting in no supply or a need to cancel contracts, Public Spend Forum (PSF) is working alongside partners from US government and industry to address the need for a central source to document verified suppliers. PSF’s free searchable supplier intelligence and marketplace, GovShop, is providing supplier verification, contract identification, and real-time inventory availability in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) response efforts.

And in other news ...

Could a more dynamic model be used over Central Purchasing Bodies?

Buying responsible technology in government

Unified approach to public procurement needed to boost Kazakhstan’s economic recovery says World Bank Assessment

Competition for European Parliament Building in Brussels relaunched

The National Audit Office raps British Tourist Authority for irregular procurement activities and failure to secure government approval for more than £1m of unauthorised payments

Department for Education ‘schools to use “local supply chains” to obtain PPE’ called a deliberate shifting of central government control to headteachers and trusts to take responsibility for their employees

Across all sectors of UK public sector the number of tech procurement opportunities has sharply decreased as a result of COVID-19

Possible conflict of interest suspected over UK Land Registry contract to AWS

France triples emergency budget for cycling to keep people out of cars as lockdown eases

UK announces £283 million into public transport to improve public safety and protect services

From scientific advice and procurement contracts to FOI, the government has drastically reduced transparency during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Open Democracy