Peter Smith from Spend Matters is presenting a session at the eWorld Purchasing and Supply Event on 24 September 2013 at QEII Conference Centre.
Peter’s session has a mouthful of a title: “Public and Private Sector procurement – what is the difference and what on earth is commissioning?”.
In advance of the event he is asking anyone who is interested to complete a survey (accessed via the link below).
As a starter for 10, we set out a few perspectives below (some of which may be regarded as a being a little facetious in an attempt to make some serious points) on the differences:
1. In public procurement you are spending someone else’s money, in private sector procurement you are spending your own;
2. In the private sector you are less likely to find the procurement team located in Facilities Management because a guy there once went on a City Break to Brussels;
3. In the private sector no-one is too bothered if you act in a non-transparent manner and treat bidders unequally;
4. In the public sector you can legitimately and without fear of contradiction maintain that procurement regulation has nothing to do with value for money and, in fact, actual ensures that the entire process is more expensive;
5. In the private sector the expression “Most Economically Advantageous Tender” may occasionally be taken to mean something other than “lowest price”.
And to finish with, one similarity: in both the public and private sectors no-one else in any other area of the relevant entity takes a blind bit of notice of the procurement team.
Now, let’s have a look at that survey….
