The Scottish Government’s ferry company CMal has dismissed allegations that a procurement process for the purchase of two west coast ferries was “rigged”.
BBC Disclosures will air an episode tonight that claims that Ferguson Marine Engineering benefited from preferential treatment during the bidding process for the £97million contract.
They say they have “leaked evidence” to back up the claims.
But in response to the allegations, CMal insisted tonight that its files show “no evidence” the procurement system was rigged.
In a lengthy statement, the company said it has asked the makers of BBC Disclosure to share its information it had, in order that it might be able to investigate further.
CMal described the allegations as “serious and concerning”. It added that many of the participants in the procurement bid no longer worked for the company, as it took place seven years ago.
Chief executive Kevin Hobbs took up the role on April 1 2016, the year after the contracts were signed.
A statement issued by Cmal said it became aware of the BBC allegations on September 8.
It read: “We provided a lengthy statement in response to the BBC. Questions on the dual fuel ferry contract and procurement process were answered to the best of our knowledge and understanding based on the information and data we hold.
No evidence
“Initial internal searches have found no evidence in our files to support the allegations presented to us.
“We have asked the BBC to share its evidence to allow us to investigate further.”
The procurement process for the dual fuel vessels contract was subject to an audit by the Scottish Government’s procurement services team, and this audit found no issues with non-compliance.
The dual fuel ferry project has been subject to the scrutiny of two parliamentary inquiries, and a comprehensive analysis and report published by Audit Scotland.
Throughout these independent investigations, CMal provided written and verbal evidence to all three probes.
CMal’s concerns in relation to the award of the two contracts in 2015 are documented in the Audit Scotland report published in March 2022, and in evidence to the Public Audit Committee in June 2022.
The statement continued: “Our concerns led to our stated preference to re-start the procurement process.
“This position and course of action contradicts the suggestion or allegation of favour towards a particular bidder.”
It continued: “We have not yet seen the BBC Disclosure programme and we do not know the full extent of information and detail that will feature in the programme.
“If further issues are raised and it is appropriate to do so, we will respond to them later.”
In response to allegations made ahead of the programme, it said:
Bank refund guarantee (BRG)
“On 9 December 2014, the managing director of Ferguson’s confirmed to CMal that it was its intention to provide bank guarantees to required levels.”
However, CMal said it was after Ferguson’s was announced as preferred bidder in August 2015 that the shipyard confirmed it could not provide the required BRGs.
Bidder anonymity
“We can confirm the evaluation process for the vessel contracts was anonymised.
“Cmal employed an independent expert marine consultancy to support this anonymous evaluation of the tender bids received. ”
Statement of Operational Technical Requirements (SOTR):
“Cmal did not provide Ferguson’s with a copy of the CalMac “Statement of Operational and Technical Requirements” (SOTR) for the dual fuel vessels.”
Clarification meeting:
“One technical clarification meeting was held between Cmal and Ferguson’s in-person at Port Glasgow on June 4 2015.
“Technical clarifications are an ordinary and iterative question-and-answer process where ambiguities within lengthy and complex documents are resolved.
“Other bidders participated in similar technical clarification engagement digitally given their non-UK locations; the geographical proximity of the Ferguson’s shipyard to Cmal’s office led to this engagement being held face-to-face.”
Alleged change in bid
“Two bidders, one being Ferguson’s, had provided an “approximate” volume for LNG (Liquid Nitrogen Gas) tanks. Cmal asked both bidders to provide the actual tank volume.
“That is a normal step of clarification in a process such as this.”
The two ferries are still being built for Scottish Government ferry-owner CMal for the government-owned ferry operator CalMac routes – but are five years late, and at least £150m over budget.
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