SNP ministers face yet more questions over the controversial decision to award a contract to build two ferries to a shipyard in Port Glasgow.
Ferguson Marine was handed an order to construct the vessels for Caledonian Macbrayne in 2015 - despite concerns behind the scenes that it didn't offer value for money.
Neither vessel has been finished and the costs of the project have ballooned - with the yard being nationalised in 2019 after going bust. The ferries will now enter service at least five years' late and £150 million over budget.
Now a BBC Scotland investigation has suggested Ferguson Marine was allowed to change its design during the tendering process, making its pitch almost £10million cheaper. There was also a confidential meeting between the yard and the Scottish Government’s ferry procurement body Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) – a courtesy not extended to other bidders in the process.
Speaking to the BBC, John Swinney said: “These issues have got to be looked into further as a result of what you’ve put to me today. I listen to this material in good faith – it’s not been put to me in the past but I do assure you that it is material that I take seriously, about which I have concerns which raises fundamental issues for me about the fairness and the appropriateness of the tendering process and I have to be satisfied that those issues are properly looked at.”
Jim McColl – the former owner of the yard – said the document put Ferguson Marine in a “very strong position” to win the tender. The procurement and building of the vessels has been an ongoing issue in recent years and the subject of two parliamentary inquiries, one of which is ongoing, and a report by the Auditor General.
The yard was pulled out of administration by the Scottish Government and nationalised in 2019, but a series of issues with the building of the vessels were soon identified that resulted in delays and overspends. The Glen Sannox and the as-yet-unnamed hull 802 are expected to be completed next year, with the cost some two-and-a-half times the initial £97 million.
Graham Simpson, Scottish Conservative transport spokesman, said: "This latest evidence adds to the growing stench around this whole scandal. We already know that the final decision to award the contract to Ferguson Marine was signed off against expert advice.
"But now it appears the entire process was fixed in Ferguson’s favour, down to them alone being supplied with a 424-page crib sheet for compiling their bid. What is arguably more disturbing is that this was not discovered by Audit Scotland in April, but had to be revealed by investigative journalists at the BBC. Either the SNP’s record-keeping has been shockingly negligent, or there’s a cover-up going on."
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