By James Jeune Royal Navy
POLITICIANS responsible for scrutinising whether public funds are being used efficiently have called for the government to carry out a “lessons learned” exercise in the wake of the failed joint ferry tender process.
The Public Accounts Committee made the recommendation following its review of how Government departments carry out procurement.
Its findings include criticism of the way the joint tender process to award Jersey’s new ferry contract was carried out.
The process began in May last year with the launch of a pan-island tender that collapsed in October, when Guernsey revealed that it had decided to appoint Brittany Ferries – Condor Ferries’ majority owner – as its preferred bidder.
DFDS won the subsequent Jersey-only tender and signed a 20-year contract to provide passenger and freight services.
Brittany Ferries sought a judicial review of the Government’s decision, but the Court of Appeal decided it wouldn’t have “a realistic prospect of success”
The Committee has argued that there was a lack of “suitable mechanisms” in place for a joint decision-making process, with each jurisdiction responsible for conducting its own scoring and evaluation of the bids received.
It also highlighted the absence of “best practice examples” taken from other jurisdictions to inform the process.
“The Government of Jersey should urgently undertake a ‘lessons learned’ exercise in respect of the failed joint tender process for the ferry contract,” the report stated, adding that this should be completed before the end of the year.
“It should also conduct a benchmarking exercise against the UK or EU and identify joint procurement case studies for bi-jurisdictional tenders to use as examples when planning future joint procurement ventures.”
The Committee also recommended that this should be done “in collaboration with Guernsey counterparts”, by the end of the second quarter of next year.
The political impact of the joint tender’s collapse was also laid bare in the PAC report, which referenced a hearing with senior civil servant Richard Corrigan held in March as part of the review.
At the time, Mr Corrigan – who had to remove himself from the tender process after indicating a preference for DFDS in a social-media poll by “inadvertent mistake” – told the Committee that the lessons learned were “quite raw”.
“We are only talking a few months on from the process. Jersey has been subject to litigation that we have fought off successfully,” he said.
“That leaves quite a mark in terms of a desire to work in such a major joint procurement with Guernsey at any near point in the future. That is not my decision ultimately; others will decide.”
The JEP asked the Government for comment but did not receive a response by the time of going to print.