Letters: Now tell us why Ferguson was scored so highly in the bid process

Paragraph 8 on page 10 of the Audit Scotland report states its review is from the appointment of Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited (FMEL) as preferred bidder and that it "did not audit aspects of the procurement process before this point". In paragraph 5, it refers to "serious failures in vessel procurement" previously identified in the December 2020 report by the Scottish Parliament's Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee.

Evidence relating to the procurement process was given to the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee. A 50:50 quality/price ratio was adopted to assess the bids. On price FMEL was the most expensive. The highest evaluation score is awarded to the lowest cost bid with the scores ranging from 84.8 to FMEL’s 72.9. But this cost disadvantage to FMEL was more than overcome in the quality assessment in which FMEL was awarded the highest score of 76.0, far ahead of the second highest quality score, which was 56.5. Combining the two elements, FMEL achieved the highest overall evaluation score and was awarded the contract.

The criteria used in the quality assessment do not appear to have been published. It would be very interesting to know what they were and the reasons why FMEL was scored so much more highly than the bids from the five other shipyards, which are located in England, Germany, Poland and Turkey. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the criteria adopted for the quality evaluation aligned with the SNP administration’s political objective of favouring the Port Glasgow yard.

An effective procurement process would have included an assessment of the ability of the yard to deliver the vessels as one of the quality criteria. A rigorous assessment at this stage would have identified the weaknesses (which became all too apparent soon after construction started) and would have marked down the score on that basis. On this basis, the "root cause" of the delays and cost over-runs can be traced back to a flawed procurement process.

George Rennie, Inverness.

FARCE OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

LISTENING to politicians at Holyrood arguing about public procurement projects is a bit like watching an east of Scotland version of River City minus the intellectuals. Perhaps a tale regarding how such projects work might help them.

In 1981 I was asked to become project architect for a nurses’ residential block to be built at Stirling Royal Infirmary. The drawings had already been done and the health board had set a budget of £300,000. Unfortunately when the surveyor costed the drawings he came up with a figure of £325,000. The project was in serious danger of being dropped. However, there was a recession going on so we persuaded the board to go out to tender as the market was keen.

We got a bid of £280,000 from Marshall Construction which was duly accepted and work began on site. Everything went perfectly. The weather was great, we had a good team, and we got higher quality materials at great prices. So much so that we completed three months ahead of schedule and at £5,000 below contract cost. This simply never happens, but this time it did.

I was expecting a small pat on the back for my efforts but instead I got a panic call from the NHS project manager. She urged me to achieve an overspend before the contractor left site. Baffled, I asked why. She explained that an underspend was so unusual it would be noticed and would likely result in the board’s capital allocation from the Scottish Executive being cut for the following year. This would make their finances even more problematic.

Next she asked me to make out a list of exceptional reasons to explain why we had completed a full three months ahead of schedule. This was a major concern for her. Even more baffled, I once again asked why. She advised that my project was one of six that she was in charge of but all the others were running over time and over budget. She would be asked to explain why she wasn’t managing them as well as this one. Her job could even be on the line. I duly did as she instructed.

Then I went home and crawled into a corner where I sobbed quietly for half an hour. All these years of study and hard work to become a proficient architect, only to find that it had rendered me totally unsuited to working in the public sector.

Robert Menzies, Falkirk.

SAD FOCUS ON AVOIDING BLAME

CAN Stan Grodynski (Letters, March 30) and other SNP apologists not understand that the proper test of delivering a service is not whether others did it worse but whether you did it at least adequately?

The incompetence (and possibly worse) of some parts of the Westminster Government is undeniable but so, in the case of the ferries and other aspects of delivering public services, is the ineptitude of our Scottish Government in a matter in which Westminster had no input or control. In any case, the focus now should be on fixing the problem: apportioning blame can come later.

It's unfortunate that our Government seems focused, instead, on avoiding blame while having no constructive approach to finding a remedy. Nor is it acceptable in terms of blame simply to claim, as the First Minister has done, that "a bad boy done it and ran away".

Brian Chrystal, Edinburgh.

LONG LIST OF SNP ACHIEVEMENTS

IAN Balloch (Letters, March 30) reels off a list of complaints against the SNP which he claims "if added to could fill the entire Letters Pages". For the sake of balance, could I add that the SNP saved A&E departments which had been threatened with closure, scrapped prescription charges, ditto bridge charges; that other initiatives include baby boxes to give children a good start in life, and the game-changing Scottish Child Payment which will be increased to £25 a week by the end of this year; that 1,000 schools have been built or upgraded, while Scottish students receive free university tuition; that 100,000 affordable homes have been built, with around 70% of them for social rent; and that free personal care is available for those who need it, regardless of age? The SNP has removed parking charges at all NHS hospitals and delivered the Borders Railway – the longest new domestic railway that was built anywhere in Britain in more than 100 years.

Indeed, I would suggest to Mr Balloch that the Letters Pages could be filled several times over with a list of positive SNP achievements.

Ruth Marr, Stirling.

THE EXPERTS AREN'T ALWAYS RIGHT

WE all know how successful the Borders Railway has proved to be and of the demand for the extension to Hawick. I've just discovered a Herald front page dated June 26, 2010 with the headline "£300 million rail link offers poor value for money".

Time shows how wrong experts can be.

Alistair Moss, Doune.

SHARED GUILT OVER REFUGEES

WE should all be congratulating Neil Mackay for his recent article (“Tories shame us with homes for Ukraine. SNP must act”, The Herald, March 29). This scathing indictment of the UK Government’s hypocritical attitude to helping Ukrainian refugees is typical of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Home Secretary Priti Patel and her predecessors’ handling of immigration issues. Though there are many examples, such as animal favouritism over Afghan interpreters, the humanitarian rescue of people from a war-torn country fleeing for their lives is no place for this bureaucratic nonsense over online visa applications taking weeks to get clearance – even when there are named families here willing to take them into their homes.

As for not knowing the numbers granted visas: well, that says it all. The lack of any protection system other than charities for the vulnerable lone women and children who make up many of the people involved is a further disgrace. While marvellous spontaneous work is done in Poland and neighbouring countries, the UK lags at the bottom of Europe once again and it is no wonder we are losing thousands to Ireland. The Scottish Government cannot escape blame here and if it reflected the sympathy and support of the majority of its population it would be a daily thorn in the flesh of its London masters instead of expecting sympathy for being powerless.

Bob Serafini, North Berwick.

Read more: SNP has spent years perfecting the art of deception