I’ve recently had some discussions regarding the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative. The purpose of which is to promote increased transparency and accountability in publicly financed construction projects around the world. It does this through the public disclosure of information – such as publishing government contracts online.

I profess no experience in the degree of corruption in construction (or any really) contracts in developing nations. But if someone is advocating for the process stewards, is anyone worrying about the business outcome? (more…)

We launched a new kind of eAuction format just under a year ago… A multi-directional eAuction.

Multi Directional Reverse eAuctions are useful when you have some elements you want suppliers to bid down (e.g. unit cost) and others you want to bid upwards (e.g. a rebate, marketing money etc). Without multi-directional eAuctions you have to find some complicated way of calculating net prices and having suppliers input those net prices into the auction. With multi-directional eAuctions this is all taken care of by the system. (more…)

First, let’s start from the beginning. Why is it that sustainable procurement in a public sector context is a big deal? The short answer is that the sum total of all government expenditures in Canada is often quoted to be $100 billion. With that kind of clout, suppliers may have the impetus they need to make sustainable goods and services their default offering, rather than a custom offering. (more…)

I am not a big fan of reverse Dutch auctions on the internet, from either the buyer’s or the seller’s point of view.

Dutch auctions were initially invented and adopted to speed up the sale of flowers in Amsterdam. Potential flower buyers would sit in a room which contained a clock. The clock would initially show a very high price - much higher than any flower buyer would be prepared to pay. The price shown on the clock would then tick downwards until it reached a price that one buyer was happy with. The buyer would press a button to “stop the clock” and could buy as many lots of flowers as they wanted at the price shown on the clock. If more flowers remained to be sold then the clock would continue downwards until all the flowers had been sold.

Software providers have adapted this kind of auction to internet procurement auctions, but the practical implementation leads a lot to be desired. (more…)