The Enron audit debacle shows that purchasers need to be more involved in buying professional services, says Peter Parry
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The European Commission has set up a working party to investigate public procurement in Europe, which could see private finance initiatives (PFI) and public private partnership deals, such as the proposed London Underground scheme, being subject to new regulations.
Nearly all of the suppliers to BMW’s new £400 million Hams Hall engine plant near Birmingham will be based on the continent, according to Colin Mitchell, the plant’s managing director. Of the 98 component suppliers, 69 are from Germany, 17 elsewhere in Europe, and just eight are based in the UK. Mitchell has blamed the strength of sterling for the decision.
The government is to establish a National Metals Technology Centre in Rotherham, Yorkshire. The centre will be the focus for research and development, and also advise metal producers and users, especially small firms, on how to develop business contacts.
Publications on e-payments, e-services, e-sourcing and e-tenders are among CIPS’s plans for this year. Roy Ayliffe, CIPS’s director of professional practice, told delegates at the E-Marketplace World event in London that CIPS was also to develop a “trustmark” for purchasers to assess e-business tools.
The Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) head of procurement has taken on the responsibility of the group’s property operations. Ed Smith will lead a team of around 1,000 with an annual budget of more than £2.4 billion. The move is part of integrating the operations of National Westminster Bank, which RBS took over last year.
A second single-bore Channel Tunnel for rail traffic is unlikely after a Eurotunnel survey this month declared it financially unviable. At an estimated cost of £3 billion, Eurotunnel said that the more expensive rail option would not bring in adequate financial returns, unless there were “a very significant shift from road to rail” in freight traffic.
Graham Roberts-Phelps
Gower, £49.50
My first impression, from the title and cover of this book, was that it might be boring, written in legalese and aimed at practitioners and students. I was wrong.