ABSTRACT
A key question in the built environment is how society acquires best architectural quality appropriately, and at good value, and how architects best serve and engage these needs sustainably. E-procurement sustained by many new provisions within the European Union (EU) public contract directives, offers exciting possibilities for improving architectural competition practice. For public UK architectural competitions, the Project Compass portal homepage, called Fulcrum, supplies the first free Official Journal of the European Union notice service that delivers mobile and desktop competition notifications, with RSS, Twitter and calendar feeds also available. For all design professionals as practical stakeholders, it is equally important when competing to win work that they consider that it is won fairly, on design merit, is well briefed and is capable of delivering our culture, clients and industry the best value sustainable architecture. The facilities of the Project Compass platform have been used for pre-procurement activities and competition procedures having more direct practical applications.
