Folkestone & Hythe District Council issue £6.2 million worth of contracts bypassing normal tendering processes
£6.2 million pounds worth of contracts in 2019/20 were issued by Folkestone & Hythe District Council, using waivers and citing urgency and expediency.
In total, 49 contracts in 2019/20 were issued bypassing the standard tendering process. To put that another way, 20% of all contracts were awarded using waivers in 2019/20. Each of these contracts bypassed the normal tendering rules.
One of those companies was Envirocure Limited. Yes it was they who won a contract for “Mobile phones” to the value of £97,208, even though they describe themselves as “Legionella Hygiene Specialists“.
The value of the contracts which by passed normal contract standing order procedures was £43,419 and £60,314, so more than 50% of the value of all three contracts were given to a company for “Mobile Phones” work.
Then there is Kent Plastering Contractors Ltd, who won a contract to provide “Equipment/Furniture – New” to the value £57,224. This contract by passed the normal tendering process. But as you guessed Kent Plastering contractors do not provide Equipment or Furniture, according to their website
Orange Ora Consultancy won a contract; which also bypassed normal standard tendering process, and was issued on a waiver to the value of £106,000. This was to help the council’s transformation project, which we have been writing about since Dec 2017. So why the urgency, or expediency?
The dictionary definition of expediency is – “doing what is convenient rather than what is morally right.”
Recently, Cllr Jim Martin was shocked Folkestone & Hythe District Council had issued one contract for £120,000 to Tibbalds to prepare detailed plans for phase one of the Otterpool Park development, on a waiver.
A waiver is defined at part 10.2 s13 of the Council’s constitution. They make it clear that urgency and expediency are the main reasons for using a waiver on procuring a contract.
Between 2016/17 and 2018/19, the council used waivers on no less than 52 occasions with a value of the contracts in excess of £4 million.
In 2019/20, the Council used waivers on no less than 49 occasions with a contract value of £6.2 million, as we said at the beginning
Simply put, between 2016/17 and 2019/20, the council used urgency and expediency to grant contracts in excess of £10 million pounds on one hundred and one (101) occasions. Seventy one per cent (71%) of all contracts were issued using waivers since Dr Susan Priest has been Chief Executive of Folkestone & Hythe District Council (April 1st 2018).
In 2010/11 it was estimated the cost of procurement fraud to local government was £2.2 billion a year. By 2017 that figure had doubled to £4.4 billion. Since then a revised estimated figure of procurement fraud in local government has NOT been published.
In June 2020, the Ministry for Housing Communities & Local Government in its Review into the risks of fraud and corruption in local government procurement says Council’s ought to be “discouraging the use of waivers for procurement activity
unless absolutely necessary,” as they are a serious fraud and corruption risk.
Officers such as Director of Development John Bunnett, and Andy Jarrett, Strategic Development Officer, have both used the waiver regime for projects such as Princes Parade and Otterpool Park, citing urgency and expediency.
As I simply can’t trust anyone with the title ‘Councillor’ or even ‘Council Official’ then my questions would be:
Is some of this money making it’s way back in brown envelopes to officials?
Or perhaps to fund the local Nasty Party?
Cllr Tim Prater is David Monk’s lackey, so will do nothing about the issues of procurement fraud or any other type of fraud in our Council.
If the council catch one of there own committing fraud, it’s seems obvious to me they’ll hush it up, pay them off and show them the door. Local government officers are a protected species as so few end up in prison.
Cllr Prater is a showman, he likes and even courts his publicity, but the man doesn’t in my humble opinion, have the balls to root out the corruption, which to me and many others is happening in our council.
As for the fraud and overpayments they’ll continue, as neither Cllr Prater or senior officers will stop them, or want to stop them, as is well evidenced.
Nothing will happen, the officials responsible for monitoring and enforcing are not going to risk their salaries, the Councillors and their cronies who are involved in this mismanagement and abuse will not stop. Their view is that we had our chance at the local elections, now we just have to sit quiet until the next ones.
The contract tendering processing is supposedly meant to create competition to allow the council to get best value for money. However, using waiver’s bypasses the best value for money process which is simply not good for the rate payer.
Perhaps this explains why FHDC has had the highest council tax in Kent for seventeen years in a row.
For FH&DC it is all about helping themselves and their friends, the peasants paying for them is as it should be.
So, the question is how is FH&DC continuing to engage in a course of action that as I type has Medway Council under formal and active investigation by kent police ?
Maybe Neil Davies( chief executive and Deborah Upton,s husband) doesn’t have as much influence when it comes to heading off the attention of her majesties finest ?
What about their doling out dosh to bust local businesses in violation of the law that prohibits providing state aid to “undertakings in distress?” We all know who I am referring to……….
FH&DC would rather rip off pensioners and their families with the empty property surcharge (designed to penalise property professionals keeping properties empty). The retirement properties with expensive service charges are notoriously difficult to sell and often fall foul of the two year exemption period. £4500 Council Tax for a 1 bedroom flat.