Global shipping risk is becoming structural rather than temporary. A coalition of 18 major shipping nations, including the UK, has warned about geopolitical conflict and trade restrictions. They say these factors are causing a structural change in international trade. Maersk reports that some services are cautiously returning to the Suez Canal, but stresses that the situation remains unp...

The new Competence and Conduct Standard for social housing in England takes effect on 1 October 2026. It is broad enough to include commercial competencies such as contract management. These competencies apply where they are relevant to a person's role.The important point is that the Standard is not simply a requirement for housing qualifications. Furthermore, registered providers mu...

The Procurement Act 2023 came into force on 24 February 2025. Purchasers should increasingly treat procurement as an end-to-end commercial life cycle, rather than a procurement exercise that ends at contract award.The Act creates significant post-award transparency and performance obligations. The design of KPI and SLA regimes has fundamentally changed, making post-award contract man...

Public and private organisations continue to encounter problems with major digital transformation programmes. These problems include poorly defined requirements, uncontrolled change requests, blurred responsibilities and governance that lags delivery. This leads to project delays, contract disputes, cost overruns and supplier claims. These is lead to project delays, contract disputes, si...