Procurement

• Allied Healthcare to sell off all council contracts within three weeks

  Local authorities have three weeks to find alternative providers for thousands of elderly and vulnerable people after a major care services company pulled out of the market.

  

• Care provider winds up its local authority contracts

  A major care services provider is winding up all its contracts with local authorities after regulators warned it was about to go bust.

  

• Technology deal to transform care services, say analysts

  A huge procurement deal to promote the latest technology is being hailed as a way to transform the delivery of social services and bring their spiralling costs under control.

  

• Fair payment champions

  Victoria Brambini explains how local authorities can empower their supply chains through fair payment.

  

• Virgin Care awarded contract to deliver Lancashire health services

  Virgin Care has been identified as the preferred bidder for the delivery of 0-19 public health services in Lancashire after a legal challenge forced a reevaluation of the bid.

  

• Procurement problems

  The latest Highways/FiTZ INDEX survey has revealed deep concerns within the highways sector about the nature of procurement. Dominic Browne reports on the findings.

  

• Councils have 'dangerous dependence' on a handful of suppliers

  Councils are concentrating more than half their total spend with their top five suppliers, new research has revealed.

  

• Council agrees to re-evaluate health service procurement process

  Lancashire County Council has agreed to re-evaluate its tendering process for public health services after a court ordered the council to set aside its agreement with Virgin Care.

  

• Councils urged to protect SMEs in their supply chains

  Local authorities have been urged to protect supply chain retention monies belonging to small and medium enterprises in their supply chains.

  

• DPS – A flexible way to procure

  Paul Smith urges councils to consider Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPSs) as a pioneering approach to procurement and outlines the five top reasons for considering the use of a DPS.