Welcome to my blog. I had one thought in mind when I first expressed a notion to write an infrequent blog of my activities as Chair of BIFM, openness. All too often the workings of an organisation seem distant and irrelevant and I wanted to try and introduce the human element. This is it. Over the coming two years I plan to upload some thoughts, accounts of actions and events and to generally make some comments on the facilities management industry and BIFM. I plan to do this on average every two weeks, we'll see if that idea lasts.
Scottish Government – Financial Partnerships Unit
04-08-08, 03:17
Setting aside any political views, the SFT is going to be of significant interest to many BIFM corporate members, particularly those who evolved while working on PPP projects. So I thought it was an ideal opportunity to sound out the thoughts of one of the key figures in the setting up of the SFT. I had met Sandy at the Irish PPP conference in May and we had swapped cards after he expressed interest in connecting with BIFM for knowledge exchange and to hear our views.
Sandy is pleased to speak in detail on the future of Scottish Government procurement and the structure and role of the SFT, and we had a good 90 minutes of full and frank discussion on a wide range of topics in this regard.
I can’t write in depth about what was discussed, from two perspectives, firstly, we were meeting for the first time and we agreed to keep the discussion broadly confidential, but secondly, even if this were not the case, it would take some time to articulate the often complex discussion into prose.
I am happy to give a flavour of the discussions, which covered the FM industry in Scotland, its appetite for continued Government procurement of its services, the financial undercurrent in the market place today and how we could develop dialogue to make sure FM had an interface with the highest levels of the Scottish Government.
I discussed my work in Westminster to look at an All Party Parliamentary Group for FM, and asked if there was an equivalent in Scotland. We did not know, but thought it was worth finding out. Sandy was also amenable to the suggestion of introductions to Ministers so we could discuss interests directly, and finally we agreed to set up an informal dinner with some key industry figures to have an open discussion on the future of Scottish Government procurement and our (FM Industry) response.
I was pleased to have made the effort to meet with Sandy on a specifically BIFM agenda, and I feel that establishing these kind of interfaces is just what the Institute should do, all while representing its members.
If you have any suggestions or opinions you want me to discuss or express in future meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me at iain.murray@bifm.org.uk and please put Scottish Government in the subject line.
