Join us for the complimentary DCU  Rethinking Value, Risk and Outcomes in Public Procurement Webinar on Thurs Aug 20th at 1:00pm (for 1 hour) and discover how leading Irish public sector organisations are rethinking tendering to overcome market avoidance, control cost drift, and measure true success three years post award. Presented as part of the launch of the new DCU Graduate Cert in Strategic Public Procurement, which is now open for applications

Date and Time: Thurs Aug 20th | 1pm | Where: Live Webinar on Zoom ( Free Webinar)

REGISTER NOW

What is this about?

Public procurement is very good at asking whether we followed the rules.
Was the competition fair?
Was the process compliant?
Was the contract awarded correctly?
Did we stay within budget?
All important questions.

But perhaps we need to ask a much simpler one:

Did it actually work? Did the procurement deliver the outcome we wanted? Did it build capability or create another dependency? Did it make the organisation more resilient? And, three years later, can we demonstrate that it delivered public value?

Hosted by DCU Business School Executive Education, this high level executive webinar moves past traditional back office compliance and explores why procurement needs to move beyond buying, compliance, and cost, towards a much broader understanding of value, risk, and outcomes. Using real world examples, we will challenge some of our core assumptions about what “successful procurement” actually means.

Presented by Dr. Paul Davis, PhD, MBA Head of the Management Group, Faculty of Business, DCU Business School one of Ireland’s foremost authorities on strategic procurement and supply chain management. Dr. Davis brings an unmatched blend of academic leadership, international perspective, and direct influence over Irish national procurement policy, such as:

• A core member of the Procurement for Innovation working group. Lead the foundational research that resulted in the Irish Government’s 10 Step Guide to Smarter Procurement. He also served on the Advisory Board to the National Procurement Service at the Office of Public Works (OPW).
• He served as the Lead Principal Investigator for the €3.7 Million “Winning in Tendering” Project, a major strategic initiative that transformed public tendering across the Ireland/Wales region by addressing critical skill gaps for both public procurers and indigenous suppliers.
• He was seconded directly to the Health Service Executive (HSE) ICT Strategy Unit, advising senior leadership on high stakes procurement strategies and cross border market engagement.
• Dr. Davis was Chair and Director of the Global Standard for Purchasing and Supply Chain Education and a Past President of the Irish Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management (IIPMM). He has designed and directed premier procurement programs, including 8 years leading DCU’s MSc in Strategic Procurement, a program heavily endorsed by the Department of Finance, Enterprise Ireland, the OPW, and IBEC.

WHY THIS MATTERS FOR IRISH ORGANISATIONS

Did you know?

Only 1 in 200 major public and enterprise projects delivers its intended benefits on time and within budget. Large public procurements deliver, on average, 39% less value than originally promised, with public sector cost overruns running nearly 3x higher than those in the private sector. (1)

85% of contractors believe public sector projects are awarded strictly on the lowest price rather than quality. As a result, 48% of firms actively avoid or limit their involvement in public infrastructure tenders due to excessive administrative burden, low margins, and poor risk allocation. (2)

Nearly 1 in 5 (18%) public sector IT procurements becomes a “Black Swan” event—spinning so far out of control that it overruns its budget by an average of 130% and falls 41% behind schedule. (3)

To drive sustainable growth, public sector bodies and commercial enterprise must adapt how value and risk are measured before tendering even begins. Dr. Paul Davis will speak about how to start this process in this webinar.

What This Webinar Focuses On & What You’ll Get Out Of It

• Going beyond Compliance and shifting organisational mindset from process management to strategic outcome delivery.
• Evaluating True Value and Frameworks for assessing non price criteria, long term resilience, and public value three years post award.
• Mitigating market avoidance by rethinking risk allocation and margin pressures in tender design.
• Real World Case Analysis: Practical examples challenging traditional definitions of procurement success.
• Academic Insights: How formal strategic education such as DCU’s Graduate Cert in Strategic Public Procurement equips professionals to drive value across complex projects.

Who This Webinar Is For:
This is essential viewing for public and private sector decision makers whose organisations face market volatility:

• Chief Operating Officers (COOs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), and Directors of Strategy & Transformation.
• Heads of Procurement, Category Managers, and Supply Chain Directors.
• Senior Public Sector Leaders, Healthcare Procurement Leadership, Defence Forces Senior Staff, and Utilities/Infrastructure Executives.

Register now for free to secure your place and take the first step towards your executive leadership journey.

References
(1)McKinsey & Company (2022). Unlocking the potential of public-sector IT projects. Data on major project outcome delivery rates, value shortfalls, and public vs. private cost overrun variance. Link Here

(2)Construction Industry Federation (CIF) Ireland (2024). CIF National Public Infrastructure & Procurement Survey. Survey findings on lowest-price bias, tendering burdens, and vendor market avoidance in Irish public procurement. Link Here

(3)Budzier, A., & Flyvbjerg, B. (2013). Overspend? Late? Failure? What the Data Say About IT Project Risk in the Public Sector. University of Oxford / arXiv Link Here