My RICS fees are due now. A snip at >£500.....Fortunately my employer pays.


All my work is over the OJEU threshold. It is based on the Euro & is currently c£4m. It can add to the process but not really if you develop a design in parallel & it only applies to public procurement anyway. What is interesting, & largely unknown, is that under EU law public works under that figure does not have to follow the process. However the UK Govt has decreed that all public works over £25k (yes £25k) has to be advertised in Contracts Finder & any company can apply & you follow almost exactly the same process as through OJEU.

Yet we are happy to have to start such negotiations with numerous countries to replace the EU trade deals from a position of desperate weakness.

P21+ is the govt fudge around OJEU

The £25k is the figure at which public capital schemes have to go out to full tender, making us spend your money wisely

Absolutely mate

Glad you're not negotiating anything with that attitude.

'Best Value' is the saviour of the poor bugger writing & scoring tenders. Set quality at 70% & price at 30%.

I wasn't sure of the threshold to be fair that's why I said I think, was it more like 100,000, which makes even more stupid ( I wasn't far out) my wife was in procurement manager as well, a long time since ive had to use it. I think it was P21+ I had in my mind that's my excuse anyway.

Paul

No need to panic!


Unliever Stockpiling Mangums

So, you can give it but not take it. Thought as much.

We’re using a couple of transparent negotiation tactics.

1. Nibbling: going back and asking for a bit extra on an agreed deal. If the EU give way on this it encourages us to go again e.g. about that £39 billion...
2. I need to ask my boss: they’re no longer negotiating just with the government, but also with a parliament that can’t make up its mind.

The best thing they can do is nowt. Remember, that just because you think they’re being unreasonable, doesn’t mean they do. They’ve bent a deal around May’s red lines, only to find out there was another one. With the ERG leading May by the nose, they know it might not be the last.

Chucking money at it is her best chance now. Buying off labour MPs in leave constituencies, and peeling off a few of the less loony Tory rebels. 115+ switching seems like a lot, but it feels more likely than meaningful concessions from the EU without a fuller negotiation. Basically, she’s going to ask for something and offering nothing in return - not even new ideas.

Remember, the Brady amendment only just passed and the ERG have said they do not feel bound to vote for May’s deal even if the backstop were removed or altered. Which hardly provides confidence that our government can negotiate in good faith. Taking no deal off the table isn’t about letting the EU off the hook, it’s about stopping the gormclops of the ERG from continuing to cause havoc.

There you go again

The Backstop does seem to be the biggest issue whilst I do agree it's not the only issue, I would have thought that both the Irish and the Uk governments are both as desperate as each other to avoid the hard border. Another issue that may help. If we do end up leaving without a deal then having read some of the reports our economy will initially be much worse off than all the EU nations to differing degrees, however, the Irish economy is closely linked to ours, so whilst not being quite as worse off as us they are not far behind. Possibly that's why we bailed them out with a loan when when the Euro zone crashed as it was also in our interests.

It's just a shame the 2 governments can't get their heads together in a locked brightly lit room and come up with a mutual agreement to put to the EU as we are both supposed to be sovereign nations, I have only heard the Irish PM saying we need to speak to the EU.

Genuine question. Apart from the overriding requirement to maintain the peace, why are the EU so desperate to avoid a hard border, as it is claimed? Eire will have the same problems with mainland UK with or without the border. NI trades far more across the border to Eire than the other way. Eire must be in a much stronger position to change its trade to the rest of Europe, which it already does anyway, than NI who has to start from scratch from the other side of the globe. Ships leaving Belgian, Dutch etc ports can easily divert to Dublin etc, presumably with necessary investment in the latter's ports, to replace the losses coming across the border.