RE: [VIDEO] Boris the not-a-spider
As an addendum to the above, it appears that Cabinet Office rules on this sort of procurement were put in place back in 2015:
https://www.prweek.com/article/1718616/award-500000-covid-contract-public-first-unlawful-high-court-rules
They were all issued under Cabinet Office procurement rules, drawn up in 2015, which allow for the direct award of a contract to a supplier “due to reasons of extreme urgency”.
A Cabinet Office memorandum last year on procurement, which highlighted these rules, noted that “COVID-19 is serious and its consequences pose a risk to life” and that “regulation 32(2)(c)… is designed to deal with this sort of situation.”
However, while allowing for awarding contracts in an emergency, the rules do contain tests for the contracting authority, in this case the Government, which must be met; including that the situation was unforeseeable, public health is at risk, or that it is impossible to run an accelerated procurement process to meet the need.
Public sector bodies must not only justify the use of these procedures, but they must also constantly reassess whether these conditions are being met.
So you could argue two things here:
1. the pandemic was a global emergency in which immediate action was needed in the interests of public health
2. the procurement rules put in place for times of 'extreme urgency' were taken advantage of
I would err towards 1 rather than 2, but that being said I would expect any such decision to be fully documented and transparent.
Any deviation from that and I would lean towards 2.
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Si Wooldridge
Reviewer
http://synth.myreviewer.com
RE: [VIDEO] Boris the not-a-spider
Quote:
Robee J Shepherd says...
"2 definitely happened, I don't think the government has still followed the legal ruling to publish all the contracts."
Well, it seems we agree.
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Si Wooldridge
Reviewerhttp://synth.myreviewer.com
Meanwhile in Brexit...
Total success! Project Fear was definitely all lies. All worth it to take back control of our borders and keep nasty variants of covid out... oh wait.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57518910
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RE: [VIDEO] Boris the not-a-spider
Quote:
Robee J Shepherd says...
"A bi-election with next to no publicity, maybe because it has always been a safe Tory seat with a 16,000 majority, lost to the LibDems with an 8,000 majority.
Looks like it isn't only Red Walls that are precarious, Blue Walls appear to be no better."
Don't think you can necessarily read too much into this until after the Batley and Spen by-election, considering HMG's majority is still 80 seats and the Conservatives had a stonking local election result.
This by-election appears (and I say that reservedly) about nimby-ism and HS2. I agree re. HS2 as even more convinced it's not required in a post-COVID working from home world.
Less convinced about local opposition to house building as we desperately need new affordable housing so that we can provide competition in the market to lower prices and get more people on the property ladder. That's a contentious issue in and of itself anyway, as that would decrease the value of houses bought with higher mortgages, and most people wouldn't be happy to sit on negative equity if thinking of the possibility of selling to relocate at a later date.
Still, I'm happy this has happened as it's an outlier to results in the same couple of years and reminds HMG that they can lose seats as well as gain them, so they need to think about issues in a bit more detail (although they'll never please everyone everywhere).
There is a bit of an overreaction to this result in some parts though, forgetting that mid-term by-elections traditionally gave the incumbents a bloody nose - something that hasn't happened for a fair while now...
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Si Wooldridge
Reviewerhttp://synth.myreviewer.com
