A leaked dossier has suggested the process of awarding a £97m Scottish ferries contract may have been rigged.
Documents obtained by BBC Disclosure indicate that successful bidder Ferguson Marine Engineering benefited from preferential treatment.
The two ferries are still being built for CalMac, but will be at least £150m over budget and five years late.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said he was concerned by the BBC findings and would look into the matter further.
Government-owned ferries agency CMAL defended the procurement and said an audit in 2018 found “no adverse issues”.
The BBC documentary, however, uncovered evidence of a number of irregularities:
- CMAL may have broken its own rules by allowing Ferguson to go ahead with its bid despite being unable to provide evidence of a builders refund guarantee, a mandatory financial safeguard
- Ferguson obtained a 424-page document from a design consultant setting out CalMac’s technical requirements, while other bidders had to rely on a more limited 125-page specification. A key section of its bid was mostly cut-and-pasted from this longer document
- The shipyard was allowed to significantly change its design halfway through the tender by developing a variant mentioned but discounted in its original submission.
- This change also allowed it to reduce its price by nearly £10m, making it more competitive
- CMAL assessors held a “confidential” meeting with Ferguson, the only bidder to receive an in-person meeting
The Port Glasgow shipyard fell into administration in August 2014, but was bought a week before the independence referendum by Jim McColl, a businessman who sat on First Minister Alex Salmond’s council of economic advisers.
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