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EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement Endorsed

Dec 13, 2018
European Parliament News announces that Parliament has endorsed a ‘landmark’ EU-Japan free trade agreement to allow free trade and remove most duties on EU goods exported to Japan. Wine, cheese, beef, pork, pasta, chocolate and biscuits will enter duty-free either immediately or after a...

Public Spend Forum’s Public Procurement Weekly Roundup

Dec 7, 2018
USAF’s new initiative aims to speed acquisition for tech products and services, DHS releases list research areas it plans to pursue in partnership with innovative small businesses, and GSA plans to rollout schedules reform through 2020. All this and more in Public Spend Forum’s Weekly Roundup...

GPP Helpdesk Webinar – Purchasing Green Cleaning Products and Services

Dec 6, 2018
December 18th at 14:00 CET (15.00 GMT). This is the second of two Webinars organised as part of the European Commission’s Helpdesk service on Green Public Procurement (GPP). This is a forum for stakeholders in public sector procurement to learn about important new developments in the resources...

Procurement Needs Huge Cultural Shift for a Digital NHS

Dec 6, 2018
This week Public Finance ran an opinion piece from Colin Cram, a public sector consultant specialising in procurement who has worked in the UK public sector for over 40 years. He discusses, at some length, how a digitally enabled UK NHS (National Health Service) could transform medical treatment...

The European Commission’s Proposals for the Next Horizon Europe

Dec 6, 2018
The European Commission has published its proposals for the Horizon Europe framework to succeed the Horizon 2020 project. The Horizon 2021-2027 research and innovation programme will be worth €100 billion and is expected to launch on 1 January 2021. We have seen many projects benefiting from the...

2018 eGovernment Benchmark Report

Dec 6, 2018
A study from Capgemini in conjunction with consortium partners Sogeti, IDC and Politecnico di Milano, highlights the status of Europe’s digital government transformation and looks at how far public sector organisations are taking the steps necessary to achieve shared eGovernment goals. It finds...

Public Spend Forum’s Public Procurement Weekly Roundup

Nov 30, 2018
GSA plans to consolidate 24 multiple award schedules into one, IBM adds to its JEDI cloud contract protest, and are agencies making the grade on cyber hygiene? DHS looks to find out with AWARE algorithm. All this and more in Public Spend Forum’s Weekly Roundup for November 30, 2018. CDM Program...

Gov.UK Plans for £600bn National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline

Nov 29, 2018
The UK Government has announced a pipeline of projects worth £600 billion for infrastructure investment over the next decade in a commitment to drive the modernisation of the construction sector and improve the delivery of economic and social infrastructure projects. It includes projects such as...

NHS Workforce Shortage – More from Readers

Nov 29, 2018
Following an article in HSJ, we wrote about NHS Workforce Shortage – Part of a Wider Trend, earlier this week on Spend Matters UK/Europe – which talked about challenges for procurement of public sector contingency labour, especially that of the NHS. This prompted a considered response from one...

Highlights from the HCSA Annual Conference

Nov 29, 2018
We attended the Healthcare Supplies Association (HCSA) annual conference, in Cardiff, this week. It has been running for many years and tackles all sorts of challenges for NHS procurement. This year it focused on grasping ‘opportunities to bring commercial ownership and accountability to our...

Drone Industry Conference, Regulations and Buying

Nov 29, 2018
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is holding a high-level conference on drones where top aviation and industry stakeholders discuss the future of drone regulations and the drone industry in Europe. “… the emphasis on safety comes just ahead of another widely recognized goal: the...