MEP comments on Rathlin Ferry report
10 December 2008
Commenting on the internal DRD report on the awarding of the Rathlin Island Ferry contract, TUV MEP Jim Allister, who had referred the whole issue to the Audit Office, said:-
“Though written as sympathetically as possible to the Department, even this internal report has to acknowledge “basic errors” in relation to the procurement process and the administration of the tender exercise. Concluding that such, nonetheless, did not “affect the overall outcome of the competition” seems to me a giant leap of convenience for the Department.
The finding that key staff exercised “poor judgement” is worrying in circumstances where public funds are being distributed through public contracts.
I will be monitoring carefully how DRD implements the 12 recommendations in this report.”
