Ministers set aside normal standards of transparency as they scrambled to secure 拢18bn of supplies and services in response to the coronavirus crisis, relying on some firms recommended by MPs and peers, a new report says.
The study by the National Audit Office found that a 鈥渉igh-priority lane鈥 was established for firms referred to the Government鈥檚 PPE team by officials, ministers鈥 offices, MPs, peers and senior NHS staff, with about one in 10 companies going through this route getting a contract, compared with one in 100 for those in the 鈥渙rdinary lane鈥.
Many contracts were awarded retrospectively after work was carried out, the report found, including a 拢3.2m agreement with Deloitte to support the PPE team and an 拢840,000 deal with Public First for focus groups.
And there was 鈥渋nadequate documentation鈥 in a number of cases on how risks, including potential conflicts of interest, had been managed.
Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said the failings uncovered in the NAO report may be the 鈥渢ip of the iceberg鈥 and called for Ministers to 鈥渃ome clean鈥 and publish all information about the contracts awarded.
The NAO鈥檚 investigation comes with the Government under intense pressure about claims of a 鈥渃ronyvirus鈥 culture which has seen allegations about key posts and contracts going to people linked to the Tory party.
NAO chief Gareth Davies said: 鈥淎t the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in the 海角视频, government had to procure large volumes of goods and services quickly whilst managing the increased risks this might entail.
鈥淲hile we recognise that these were exceptional circumstances, it remains essential that decisions are properly documented and made transparent if government is to maintain public trust that taxpayers鈥 money is being spent appropriately and fairly.
鈥淭he evidence set out in our report shows that these standards of transparency and documentation were not consistently met in the first phase of the pandemic.鈥
The NAO concluded that 鈥渋n the examples we examined where there were potential conflicts of interest involving ministers, we found that the ministers had properly declared their interests and we found no evidence of their involvement in procurement decisions or contract management鈥.
The spending watchdog also acknowledged the pandemic required acting with 鈥渆xtreme urgency鈥 and the Public Contracts Regulations allowed an emergency response, including awarding deals directly without a formal competition.
But it criticised a lack of record-keeping within the 鈥渉igh-priority lane鈥, which involved 493 suppliers, of which 47 were given contracts.
Labour MP Ms Hillier said: 鈥淭he Government overlooked a serious conflict of interest, paid consultants for months before giving them contracts and purchased masks it knew weren鈥檛 up to scratch.
鈥淚t鈥檚 bad enough that it set up a 鈥榟igh-priority lane鈥 to fast-track companies with the right connections.
鈥淏ut the failure to track how half the companies had ended up on it made it impossible to ensure proper safeguards were in place. The Government needs to come clean and immediately publish all the contracts it鈥檚 awarded so far.鈥
