The island’s Public Accounts Committee made the recommendation following a review of how its departments carry out procurement.
Its findings include criticism of the way the joint tender process to award new ferry contracts in the islands was carried out, with Guernsey ‘breaking ranks’ to announce Brittany Ferries and Condor as its successful tenderer, while Jersey ultimately launched a second process to confirm DFDS to run its ferry services, fighting off a legal claim from Brittany Ferries on the way.
Former Economic Development president Neil Inder, who led the Guernsey side of the tender, still generally hailed as a success for the island, said that the first he had heard of any review was when contacted by the Guernsey Press at the weekend.
‘I was asked at one point to attend one of their Scrutiny reviews,’ he said, ‘but that fell away and didn’t happen.
'But if I was asked to attend I would consider it.’
Deputy Inder has been happy to outline the Guernsey approach to the collapsed tender, having done so at least twice in detail before the States Assembly.
Jersey’s Public Accounts Committee wants a review of the process carried out before the end of the year. It highlighted a lack of ‘suitable mechanisms’ in place for a joint decision, as each island was responsible for conducting its own scoring and evaluation of the bids received.
And then the committee says the Jersey government should look to involve Guernsey in a benchmarking exercise, against the UK or EU, and identify joint procurement case studies for bi-jurisdictional tenders to use as examples when planning future joint procurement ventures.
It also highlighted the absence of ‘best practice examples’ taken from other jurisdictions to inform the process. This work should be completed within the next 12 months, it recommends.
The report has also highlighted a lack of oversight for a ‘high-risk’ tender which carried a risk of reputational damage to the States, and said that the importance of clear communication and alignment of interests in joint procurement processes, laid bare by the joint ferry tender, also needed deeper consideration.
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