Just because I have not provided an update to my blog for a few weeks it does not mean the world of procurement is quiet! In fact far from it…….
It seems the whole world is aware of the “PPE scandal” and the faulty products delivered by Medpro – a company involving Baroness Michelle Mone. Whilst we all understand that during the Covid outbreak the requirement for PPE was urgent, it must be said that the whole PPE procurement process was a shambles.
Why were there no checks on the materials before the delivery was finalised? And how many other PPE contracts had similar – or other serious – issues?
At that time, as a procurement professional, I contacted the Secretary of State for Health (Matt Hancock) and advised him of over 20 UK based SME’s who had approved PPE products sitting on their shelves ready to deliver. But I was ignored – and so were they.
But another scandal is beginning to unfold.
For several years, The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has been providing funding to make homes more energy efficient – with over a billion pounds of funding having been made available so far.
The majority of these funds have been given been awarded to Social Housing providers – that is Local Authorities and Housing Associations. So large contracts were let by these Social Landlords for measures such as double glazing, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and more.
It soon became apparent that many – if not most – of the contracts were awarded to large “Tier One” contractors who actually sub-contracted all of the work. And therein lies a problem. Whilst DESNZ stipulated that the work had to be undertaken by qualified contractors some of the Tier One contractors awarded subcontract work to the cheapest local suppliers who had none of the required accreditation.
The outcome is that over 16000 homes are currently blighted due to mould and damp through inappropriate or poor quality retrofit work. And DESNZ never checked that the work was being undertaken according to their own contractual conditions.
I wrote to the Minister outlining this issue about 9 months ago but got a mind-blowingly inept response. Basically “we tell them to use qualified contractors so they must”.
The BBC have just released details of their investigation into this problem and have estimated that the cost of rectifying the mistakes will be over £200 million (just for the properties already identified).
As the YBC National Procurement Spokesman I fight against this ineptitude and try to ensure that suitable qualified SME’s (our members!) get a fair crack of the whip but at the moment our Ministers appear to have their corporate heads well and truly in the sand.
I hope my next blog will be more positive.