Tag Archives: procurement

On transparency in government expenditure

Posted on 12/08/2010 by Alistair Rae

We hear today that Department for Communities and Local Government have published ”details” of all spending above £500.  The Minister responsible for the department, Eric Pickles, claiming that this move will encourage an ”army of armchair auditors” to examine the … Continue reading →

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Tories and procurement transparency

Posted on 16/02/2010 by Alistair Rae

Tories are proposing that all public sector contracts with a value of over £25k should be published. That’s ostensibly to improve transparency, encourage competition and improve access to the public sector Market for Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SME). Lots … Continue reading →

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The guillotine and defence procurement cost inflation?

Posted on 04/02/2010 by Alistair Rae

The Chilcot inquiry has now heard about the massive cut to defence funding shortly after operations in Iraq started.  At the same time there is a lot of criticism of MoD for the cost escalation of various programmes, in particular … Continue reading →

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Trijicon sights and the Bible

Posted on 20/01/2010 by Alistair Rae

So the American supplier of rifle sights, Trijicon, inscribe references to biblical passages on their products.  Reported at the BBC following alleged complaints by an American soldier.  The sights are also in use in the UK, most recently on the … Continue reading →

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Tory health policy and targets

Posted on 07/01/2010 by Alistair Rae

The much trumpeted draft health manifesto from the Conservatives contains a couple of interesting points.  One the one hand there is the promise to: scrap all of the politically-motivated process targets that stop health professionals doing their jobs properly, and set NHS providers free … Continue reading →

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Lib Dems and Policing – Abusing Freedom of Information

Posted on 02/01/2010 by Alistair Rae

Chris Huhne has commented on data derived from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request about cost of vehicles in policing, published here on the party website. So police forces and authorities spend quite a lot on hiring vehicles.  My … Continue reading →

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Saving Defence by selling off the profit makers

Posted on 19/10/2009 by Alistair Rae

So Liam Fox seems to think that an approach to cutting costs in MoD might be to sell off the Met Office, mentioned in a BBC interview. I’ve felt for some time that Fox has little understanding of defence in … Continue reading →

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