The Scottish Government has rejected claims that it made mistakes awarding the £243million Northern Isles ferry contract to the multinational company Serco in May 2012.
The comments come after Labour’s shadow transport spokesman David Stewart last week accused the government of wrongly dismissing a cheaper bid from the existing operator NorthLink.
Shetland MSP Tavish Scott is calling for the public finance watchdog Audit Scotland to investigate the way the contract was awarded. The transport union RMT is, meanwhile, demanding a public inquiry.
The awarding of the six-year ferry contract, three years ago, has been mired in controversy since Serco was announced as the winners.
One of three unsuccessful bidders, Streamline, is in the process of taking the government to court over the way its tender was treated.
Industry sources have confirmed Stewart’s claim that NorthLink, which had operated the service for the previous 10 years, submitted a lower bid than Serco.
However, the detailed tender document was returned unopened after civil servants deemed the company had failed to meet the required quality standards regarding the freight service it was offering.
NorthLink directors were astounded by the decision, believing the “competitive dialogue” process should have addressed any such concerns before final bids were submitted. In fact, they believed the transport officials had got it wrong.
They were further upset that Serco’s success was made public before they were able to tell their own staff their bid had failed and they would be working for a new company.
Mr Scott has tabled questions about the way the contract was awarded which he intends to raise at the Scottish Parliament today.
He also plans to raise the matter with Audit Scotland.