Part 42: More financial and contract irregularities
It looks like a harmless contract at first sight.
Awarded on the 14/12/2020, it began on the 04/01/2021, and was due to end on the 07/05/2021. There were no extensions to the contract and the awarded value and estimated annual value of the contract was the same amount £258,290.
The contract was awarded to the NRT Group (registered as NRT Building Services Group Ltd.) NRT was awarded just this contract.
Yet when one looks at the Purchase order data, remembering a PO is a legally binding document created by a buyer (the Council) and presented to a seller (NRT). It is much like the “cart” on Amazon or Ebay, a purchase order is essentially a list of what you want to buy. It lays out the order details, including quantity and types of products the buyer needs, as well as payment terms and delivery details.
Back to the PO data; which shows the Council created POs to the sum of £550,136. This was 113% more than the value of the contract
Then when one looks at the payment to suppliers data it shows NRT were paid £607,249. This sum is 135% more than the awarded contract value. One must not forget there were no extensions to this contract. None.
When one looks at the last two payments made on the 22/12/2022, these payments came after the date Dr Susan Priest assured the Audit & Governance Committee on the 7 Dec 2022, that things would change.
As we have previously said, there are more contracts like this and they add up to a considerable sum of public money spent, when the contracts had ended, yet the public pound was still paid, for no good reason. On this contract like many others before and after, it came down to poor internal controls and a failure to follow the Council’s contract standing orders.
Is it any wonder the new administration has to sort out the mess left by the last Tory led administration, and the officers who worked under them.
The inclusion of a company in this blogpost is not intended to suggest or imply that they have engaged in illegal or improper conduct.
The Shepway Vox Team
The Velvet Voices of Voxatiousness
Dr Susan Priest assured the Audit and Governance Committee. What a joke the woman hasn’t got a clue what day of the week it is let alone how to run finances .
Get rid of her pronto
@Kevin
The growing list of errors raises the issue that while it is financially improbable to bring prosecution against council en mass, The Stunnel Report raised the prospect of individual officer prosecution, outside the protection of council.
All officers, including elected councillors, are subject to law, as are the public, protection by privilege or position does not apply.
The question is, does integrity exist to exact correction and stabilisation of all the raised matters; to date, seemingly not.
The consistency here is, there is nothing effective in place to safe guard against the events being constantly highlighted, by design or intent, a huge hole appears in local government structure and credibility, beyond reasonable human error.
An even bigger hole is the blatant continued failure to address these matters.
I’m curious about Ship Street. Is the land now considered safe as a while back it was not a while back. mainly asking due to it being a good place to build as currently ts just wasted land. Though i would think with inflation still high since 2021 it probably not the best time to build even though we need more homes that are affordable for 1st time buyers as well as council homes. My rent went up 10% last month though still below many other rentals I’ve been looking at. I live on a main road that is far too noisy even at 11 pm at night as i need the windows open.