Possibly to the surprise of some, procurement professionals in the UK appear to see Brexit as an opportunity not to scrap the EU procurement directives but to reform them.
Blog and Comment
Brexit posts major challenges
The fallout from the referendum decision to leave the European Union is still falling heavily and the construction industry like most others is wondering what will happen next.
Professional negligence adjudication pilot
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) seems to be growing in popularity and is now available in several forms, most of which the construction sector has benefitted from, particularly adjudication. The industry remains the only sector to have had adjudication thrust upon it by legislation, but its success in construction has been noted elsewhere in the legal and business world.
Comment: All aboard for open contracting
The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) might not have been heard about much in construction up until now, but it is shaping up to be a significant driver of contractual relationships between central government spending departments and their suppliers, not only in the UK but across much of the world. It is to be trialled in the UK on HS2, it was announced at the recent London anti-corruption summit.
Whitehall culture needs to be changed
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the House of Commons public spending watchdog, has produced another scathing report about the lack of commercial skills in the public sector. The civil service doesn’t place much value on commercial expertise, the MPs say, which has always been recognised by clever career civil servants who know they should take other paths if they want to advance.
Infrastructure red flags ignored
How serious is the government about its regularly repeated commitment to the large scale infrastructure investment that commentators agree is vital to securing the UK’s economic future?
Action looms on Protocol
The Construction and Engineering Pre-Action Protocol, or PAP for short, has been with us for 15 years, designed to help parties either avoid litigation completely or hone in on areas of contention ahead of appearances in the Technology and Construction Court (TCC). Time and cost savings would result from this mandatory procedure, it was expected.
A risk worth taking?
A new year always brings some new problems, although the focus is usually still on the old problems left unsolved from the previous years. Infrastructure procurement is a perennial issue for the UK, but there are some new moves being made to address the issues.
Unfair definition needed
The problems of late payment and unfair contract terms and practices are felt as painfully in construction as in any other industry, perhaps more so; no other industry has yet had to have its contracts governed by legislation as construction does under the Construction Act, or had adjudication imposed on it in a bid to unfreeze a large proportion of the industry’s cash flow.
Speedy litigation on trial
Cheaper and faster dispute resolution through the courts is the promise being held out by two trials currently under way in the Technology and Construction Court (TCC).