Through Community Facilities Districts (CFD), Municipal Utility Districts (MUD), Public Improvement Districts (PID), Community Development Districts (CDD) and reimbursement districts (RD), builders can potentially shift infrastructure costs off their balance sheets and onto special districts that homebuyers ultimately absorb through property taxes without potentially adding debt to the builder's books.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took the unprecedented step of designating a U.S. firm-Anthropic-as a supply chain risk. Anthropic's crime? It refused to violate industry-wide protocols against using AI for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. Hegseth's designation, which has until now been reserved for foreign firms, bars U.S. military contractors from doing business with the company.
Leading legal departments are shifting from reactive negotiation to proactive pricing design, setting guardrails before rates are proposed rather than responding after the fact. This approach enables departments to establish parameters and expectations upfront, fundamentally changing the negotiation dynamic and improving outcomes.
Berkeley has awarded tens of millions of dollars in contracts that weren't subjected to a competitive bid process, according to a new report, which could lead to the city paying too much for goods and services, or create opportunities for corruption. The investigation by the office of City Auditor Jenny Wong found Berkeley often used non-competitive contracts in cases where it should have solicited for other bids, including in two deals for recycling services worth a combined $41.4 million, which are up for extensions soon.
If your partner in Munich mishandles customer data, or your reseller in Paris uses a "black box" AI tool to generate deceptive ads, it isn't just their reputation on the line. It's yours. With the EU AI Act now in full swing and GDPR entering its "mature enforcement" era, the distance between a partner's mistake and your company's $20 million fine has never been shorter.
Dear Transparency-Committed Reader, You're not alone. So many of us want decision-making to reflect our collective values (like transparency, care, and shared power), but it's hard to actually put those values into practice. That gap between what we believe and how we decide can be frustrating. And getting stuck in the process is a common concern I hear from groups. I am happy to share, though, that decision-making doesn't have to be a nightmare.
It found that the buying process in Ireland is marked by auctions that induce overbidding. There is also widespread misunderstanding among homebuyers of rights and responsibilities, and increasing delays after sales are agreed, according to the ESRI research. The study, which was funded by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), draws on a nationally representative survey of 800 adults. The ESRI's Behavioural Research Unit carried out an auction experiment to test how bidding behaviour changes when people face different bidding systems.
GSA also wants information on factors that drive the range of markups such as volume, product category, support levels and business size. The questions also wants to know if sourcing hardware through a distributor versus directly with the OEM drives variations in the markups. GSA wants to identify ways to reduce the cost on items that are not purchased directly from OEMs.
Digital procurement has transformed how businesses find, evaluate and manage suppliers. Platforms are faster, data is cleaner, and decision making is more informed than ever before. Yet for all the efficiency digital tools bring, procurement still relies heavily on one timeless ingredient: human connection. Bridging the gap between digital procurement and real world supplier engagement is where the strongest partnerships are built.
By focusing on what others aren't building, solidifying relationships on the ground, improving processes incrementally, and carving out a niche where they can stand apart from peers, private builders can achieve stronger margins, maintain brand value and grow sustainably despite the advantages held by large public competitors.
This may be the last year that law firms can expect billing rate increases to drive financial stability, according to a new survey of more than 800 senior finance and legal professionals in large firms across North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Technology company BigHand's 2026 finance report suggests that firms can no longer rely on traditional measures of profitability, as clients are demanding more efficiency and predictability amid the increased adoption of artificial intelligence across the legal profession, according to Law.com.
