I must apologise for not posting a blog recently but I have been busy bid writing! For one of my clients I have won him (obviously with his help) around £100 million of business in tenders in the past year – with delivery over the next five years. Our success rate is about 40% which is considered exceptionally high..
But while I have been bid writing your questions have been coming in. One issue that is regularly raised is “Is the public sector procurement process fair?”
The answer in general is “yes” but there are exceptions. A Local Authority in the South of England is currently under investigation for fraudulent activity. Some procurement officers were (allegedly) awarding contracts to their friends and being over-charged by up to ten times for services provided. I have little doubt that the investigation will uphold the allegation.
One glaring area of corruption (yes I am not afraid to use that word) is MOD procurement. It is riddled with cartels and “dodgy” intermediaries. I co-edited a report into MOD procurement in 2019 and the findings are still valid today. Following the publication of that report I received personal threats from “men in black” but the situation has not improved.
I – and colleagues at the YBC family – continue to expose such transgressions. In an earlier blog I mentioned the fact that our Government shut down the SME panel that oversaw fair play for small businesses. And Ministers will not even discuss the MOD scandal.
We at YBC are not at all Party Political but we are being heard by Reform who have promised a full investigation into the MOD issue.
Recently one of my colleagues attended a meeting with senior MOD procurement officers to discuss the implications of the Procurement Act (the Act applies to ALL Government Departments and Ministries and even Local Authorities)
All of those MOD Procurement Officers claimed that they were exempt from the law. That is not only untrue but an indication of the disease that is spreading throughout the MOD.
I apologise if this blog seems like a rant – but this is public money – your money and my money.
I hope my next blog will be more positive!
