Qube was one of the sponsors of the Public Service Events' second annual
Managing Public Sector Procurement conference, which took place at The
Barbican, London. Attendees from Qube
included, Stefan Thresh, Geoff Simpson and Mike Jones. The event was attended by around 250
delegates from a wide variety of organisations involved in or interested in
public procurement.
The conference was set against the background that public procurement amounts
to some 50% of total public sector spend. Currently £230bn a year, it is
thought that it could reach £300bn by 2015. This expenditure is a huge
potential resource for investing in the UK economy, driving innovation and
helping to boost economic growth. Its size makes it key to delivering quality
public services and to ensuring that taxpayers' money is used most effectively
and efficiently.
Despite much investment in initiatives going back almost 30 years, public
sector procurement is still not managed as well as it could be. This is partly
because of the diverse nature of the sector. For example, there remains
inadequate knowledge of how much is spent overall, on what and with whom. The
growing focus on spend data and analysis, prompted by the government's
commitment to transparency and accountability, is delivering significant
benefits.
There were nine distinguished speakers including the current CIPS
President, David Smith, who talked about “getting the (procurement) profession
to the top table”. Delegates also learnt
about new ways to save money through better procurement and new opportunities
provided by the private sector including lean procurement, spend analysis,
supplier engagement, innovation in public procurement and the latest on EU
procurement directives.
For further information about this and other similar events please
browse the following website: http://www.publicserviceevents.co.uk.