Ross McCarthy, Author at Keystone Procurement

Commercial Strategy: designing the business for success

A debate has been rumbling along over the past number of years in relation to the usefulness of business plans. This is primarily being driven by the views of young start-ups in the technology sector. Many of these budding entrepreneurs state that business planning has become useless as the plans are out of date…

Ross McCarthy25th August 2015

Bid Management

Building a business around strategic commercial objectives

Knowing when to stop something may be one of the most important life skills anyone can acquire. It can however be difficult for many of us to admit that the time has come to draw a line under certain activities whether it be a sales prospect, a sunset product we…

Ross McCarthy6th August 2015

Bid Management

Tender management – how to maximise value for money

Many businesses, the vast majority, never put their business out to competitive tendering. Some feel that they cannot do so because they are too small to use a tender management process, others simply feel it's easier to roll over contracts with companies they know. Some shop around and seek quotations…

Ross McCarthy15th July 2015

Contact Us - Business growth and innovation

Bid Management

Can public procurement contests inspire SMEs?

Can public procurement contests ever be a source of inspiration? This is an important question as many SMEs that I work with have given up on public procurement. It can cost up to €6,000 to bid. They also feel the drive towards national frameworks for product and service supply is…

Ross McCarthy1st July 2015

Procurement Sourcing

Strong systems to challenge public tender awards are inevitable

In many ways, going back to the 1980s, Australia and New Zealand have acted as both incubators and initiators of reforms subsequently implemented in developed and developing economies. From mid-term reviews (of officials like Central Bank Governers) to independent monetary policy development and tax innovation, we owe a lot to…

Ross McCarthy18th June 2015

Procurement Strategy

Post-tender negotiation in public procurement

As a company that works with businesses on procurement and commercial strategy, some interesting cases have arisen recently with respect to the post-tender negotiation experiences of companies we work with. In some cases, suppliers felt they were subjected to unexpected pressure to cut what they considered to be a very competitive bid…

Ross McCarthy21st May 2015

Procurement Strategy

Dealing with maverick procurement expenditure

Dealing with maverick procurement expenditure Larger businesses with procurement functions have outlined that maverick expenditure by non-procurmeent personnel is the biggest challenge relating to indirect procurement. There is however no apparent consensus on how to tackle expenditure that is not under the control of the procurement function. There are a…

Ross McCarthy28th April 2015

Procurement Sourcing

Project management – from drain to gain

We often help businesses with their project management and project governance. As professionals in project management, reviewing the approach adopted to achieving goals (no project plans, no risk management, no issues log, no clear objectives) presents challenges. The key challenge is to help the business retain its enthusiasm for the project…

Ross McCarthy30th March 2015

Bid Management

Procurement strategy – success in public tenders

The attached slides on procurement strategy provide our view of public procurement in Ireland. Much of this content is applicable in any market where businesses are selling to the public sector (EU and beyond). It stresses how applying a good procurement strategy can lead to success in public tender competitions. The…

Ross McCarthy29th January 2015

Procurement Strategy

Procurement Competition types

Procurement competition types cause confusion for many businesses. Recent conversations that I have had with business owners and public figures interested in supporting small businesses and helping them grow highlighted a number of issues for me. The issues are: The degree to which procurement competition types are understood; The degree…

Ross McCarthy8th January 2015