A Councillor writes.....
"Do any senior council Officers ever get held to account for any incompetency, failures or for wasting Council resources?"
He didn't wait for a reply, as he knew the answer.
But, that may not be the case by this weekend.
Update: According to an email from the Executive Office today, the gritting contract was withdrawn because the mileages on the tender were wildly (my words) wrong.
It may be possible that the mileages have changed since the last tenders, or that there is some kind of timeslip outside the boundaries of Stornoway, which must play havoc with the bus contracts. Perhaps 36 years of managing the road network has not given enough data for the Department to give accurate measurements.
Nevertheless, that is only part of the story. Perhaps Councillors might want to look at the first and second tenders and note some of the other fundamental changes.
And ask the simple question: "Why?"
Further thought: Given that the entire process was abandoned, are they Officers saying that they got the mileages wrong in every parcel? Remember that the last but one mis-tender cost £250,000 in damages to Sovval's, and Councillors should ask if the same fingerprints are all over the same process. (A: Yes)
As there is now an in-house option, does this not amount to skewing the contract in the favour of a new bidder at the expense of the existing bidders, who have been tacitly accepted. And now the Comhairle has the prices; which of course the DLO won't see. I predict multiple legal action if any of the winning tenders are now lost.
He didn't wait for a reply, as he knew the answer.
But, that may not be the case by this weekend.
Update: According to an email from the Executive Office today, the gritting contract was withdrawn because the mileages on the tender were wildly (my words) wrong.
It may be possible that the mileages have changed since the last tenders, or that there is some kind of timeslip outside the boundaries of Stornoway, which must play havoc with the bus contracts. Perhaps 36 years of managing the road network has not given enough data for the Department to give accurate measurements.
Nevertheless, that is only part of the story. Perhaps Councillors might want to look at the first and second tenders and note some of the other fundamental changes.
And ask the simple question: "Why?"
Further thought: Given that the entire process was abandoned, are they Officers saying that they got the mileages wrong in every parcel? Remember that the last but one mis-tender cost £250,000 in damages to Sovval's, and Councillors should ask if the same fingerprints are all over the same process. (A: Yes)
As there is now an in-house option, does this not amount to skewing the contract in the favour of a new bidder at the expense of the existing bidders, who have been tacitly accepted. And now the Comhairle has the prices; which of course the DLO won't see. I predict multiple legal action if any of the winning tenders are now lost.
6 comments:
Aye, Aye, (yawn) - I has heard it all before......Employment Protection Legislation is enough to put the $h!ts up most cooncillors.
"Jings ah came to a hanging an' yes rolled him over and tickled his tummy" says cooncillor Mcstruck.
I see you've already tagged it to 'snow' ?
The in-house option is just the council managing it on behalf of the Provider. Problem 1 being - CNES cant manage themselves nevermind anyone else. Problem 2 being - how is that going to work?
Apparently CNES are presently negotiating their interim measure in case it snows before December. Question - Is every firm involved in the tender getting included in the interim measures being put in place - Answer - Dont be daft! Jobs for the buoys.....
The Gritting saga is only one of a very large list of failures within the council. I bring to your attention a major blunder by our council officers.
You may have noticed that the Comhairle have purchased a fleet of new and newish buses, There is one major problem with this in the fact that none of them meet The disabled access regulations which are law for buses manufactured post 2004 which are used on public service routes.
The Comhairle are in breach of their own contract conditions and in breach of UK law.
808 Yeah but they won't tell if you don't :-}
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