Nicola Sturgeon forged ahead with the disastrous ferry fiasco deal with tycoon Jim McColl's shipyard firm - despite being advised of key issues with its bid, it can be revealed.
The then First Minister led the announcement to name Ferguson Marine as the preferred bidder for Scotland's disastrous ferry contract - after being advised by Transport Scotland that there were problems around vital financial guarantees the shipyard firm were expected to provide.
It comes amidst past accusations that the the award of the £97m Scottish ferries contract may have been rigged in favour of the Inverclyde.
Alba Party secretary Chris McEleny, who says he was blocked in attempts to get details surrounding Ms Sturgeon's preferred bidder announcement said that the new details show the the blame over the scandal stops at the top of government.
The then First Minister fronted up the hastily arranged preferred bidder announcement at the end of August 2015 having received the key guarantees warning and despite officials saying that it would be "appropriate" for Derek Mackay, as transport minister to lead on it, it has emerged.
Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), the government-owned company which is responsible for the procuring of ferries has previously said that it was "effectively instructed" by ministers to finally award the contract for the two wildly delayed and over-budget lifeline ferries to the now nationalised Ferguson Marine two-and-half-months later despite having grave misgivings over a shipyard failure to provide the normal financial safeguards through a crucial full builder's refund guarantee.
CMAL has previously stated it was not until September 2015, the month after being selected as preferred bidder, that Ferguson Marine had stated it could not provide the guarantees.
It wanted to pull out of the contract weeks after it sanctioned Ferguson Marine being named as the preferred bidder raising concerns that they faced financial risk without the guarantees.
Deputy SNP leader Keith Brown who served as infrastructure secretary with responsibility for ferry services while the contract was awarded to Ferguson Marine, had previously confirmed that Mr Mackay's hand was on giving the contract to shipyard firm from the very start of the process.
But memos have surfaced that show that the then First Minister had been briefed by Transport Scotland in the lead up to her announcing Ferguson Marine as the preferred bidder about "sensitivities" around the guarantees that affected whether the final contract could even be eventually awarded.
Three days before making the preferred bidder announcement during a hastily arranged visit to Ferguson Marine, a Transport Scotland executive gave the warning in an email to Ms Sturgeon, Mr Brown, then deputy first minister and finance secretary John Swinney and Mr Mackay.
It stated: "I would...draw the First Minister's attention to the Sensitivities/Next Steps section for her awareness (it stresses that there is considerable negotiation to be undertaken over the next few weeks before the formal contract award can be considered)."
The 'sensitivities' section stated: "Although this is a major milestone in the procurement process, there is still considerable work and negotiation to be undertaken until it reaches a stage where CMAL can take a decision to award the formal contract.
"This includes complexities around the level of guarantees that [Ferguson Marine] can provide (although there has been some movement on this element - with some distance still to go)."
It states that the other five yards that had bid had all asked for feedback on why they had not proceeded.
"There is a continual risk of legal challenge given the scale of the award and the preferred bidder being issued to a 'local' yard."
Transport Scotland in a separate pre-announcement brief went on: "CMAL have not identified any particular risks in this regard [a legal challenge] and, in any case, are confident that any challenge can be defended. That said, the relationship between Scottish Ministers and Ferguson’s owner is well known."
But the brief stated it was made clear to tenderers that the quality/price ratio for assessment of proposals was 50:50. Ferguson Marine was said to be the highest quality bid received but also the highest price.
The Scottish Government agency said that taken together, the Ferguson Marine tender achieved the "highest overall evaluation score".
The two ferries - Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa being built at the nationalised Ferguson Marine shipyard were due online in the first half of 2018, with one initially to serve Arran and the other to serve the Skye triangle routes to North Uist and Harris, but are at least six years late, with costs expected to be quadruple the original £97m contract. It has been confirmed that both are now to serve Arran.
Glen Rosa was meant to be delivered to CalMac in August 2018, but that is currently scheduled for May 2025. Glen Sannox, was 'launched' by Ms Sturgeon nearly seven years ago and is not expected to be ready till July at the earliest.
Ferguson Marine was nationalised in 2019 after the company collapsed into administration while struggling to complete the CalMac order with the shipyard firm and CMAL blaming each other for the fiasco.
But the dates of arrival have been constantly in a state of flux as their construction has been plagued by design challenges, cost overruns and delays.
Mr McEleny, the former SNP group leader on Inverclyde Council said the new details show that it was a "fallacy that Mr MacKay should carry the can" for the award of the fiasco contract.
He said: "Quite clearly the buck should have stopped at the top. This shows that they knew about the issues and decided to plough on anyway."
A ferry user group official said that the revelation shows that despite "much prevarication" the decision to go with Ferguson Marine "was clearly fine with the First Minister herself".
He said: "I am amazed that despite fundamental doubts about Ferguson Marine being brought to the First Minister herself, albeit sugar-coated, before the preferred bidder was announced, that it was felt fit to go ahead and make the announcement. You cannot give a contract of this magnitude to a company that could not give the necessary financial guarantees."
Ms Sturgeon made the announcement at the yard over two years before she attended a launch event for one of the unfinished ships, Glen Sannox in November 2017.
READ MORE: Revealed: Ministers' secret path to the controversial state takeover of Ferguson Marine
Eleven days before the announcement, the Transport Scotland's Ferries Unit in a memo to Mr Brown which was copied to Mr Mackay and Alexander Anderson, who was a senior adviser to Ms Sturgeon with portfolio responsibility for transport, rural affairs and the environment, stated that the then transport minister should lead in the announcement.
"It would be appropriate for Mr Mackay as Minister for Transport and Islands to lead on this announcement, highlighting the benefits to the islands as well as the jobs and training opportunities in Inverclyde."
The Herald previously revealed that taxpayers lost millions after ministers provided a special incentive to ensure that the ferry fiasco contract could go through by October 2015, without then normal financial safeguards.
Mr McColl, one of Scotland's richest men had acquired Ferguson Marine out of insolvency 11 months before becoming the preferred bidder.
Mr McColl has denied cronyism in the contract award, saying the SNP government favoured the yard and not him personally and wanted to make "political capital".
READ MORE: All you need to know about the Ferguson Marine bailout
The Herald reported that Mr McColl's Ferguson Marine failed to fulfil mandatory requirements to qualify as the preferred bidder, including the provision of a builder's refund guarantee.
A confidential Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) stated that an inability to meet mandatory requirements would result in exclusion not just from any future bidding process, but from the scoring exercise itself. That would mean failing at the first of what was a three-step procurement hurdle.
But Ferguson Marine remained one of six companies with the highest scores which were to be taken forward to the tender stage before a preferred bidder was identified.
One of the "mandatory minimum requirements" set down was to provide a builder's refund guarantee.
The guarantee had to be in place before work started and bidders such as Ferguson Marine had to provide an "evidentiary statement" in the form of a letter from the bank confirming a willingness to provide the guarantee "if requested to show you can provide this requirement".
Video: Then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon launching Glen Sannox in November, 2017.
But Mr McColl's Inverclyde-based shipyard firm was unable to make a firm commitment on the guarantee in the PQQ.
They merely stated in the questionnaire: "Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd understand your requirement for refund guarantees and will endeavour to comply with your request."
Another mandatory requirement that proved problematic involved the provision of a copy of audited accounts for the most recent two years and a statement of turnover, profit and cash flow for the most recent full year of trading.
CMAL has since accepted that there were issues relating to the procurement which "in retrospect" it would "do differently".
That included "unclear drafting" of the PQQ relating to the "minimum mandatory requirement".
Barry Smith, the KC, looking into the award for CMAL said that the question relating to the minimum requirement was "poorly worded and lacking clarity" but felt that it was incorrect to say that failing to meet the minimum requirement should have resulted in exclusion from the process.
He said the CMAL finance director had been sufficiently reassured that Ferguson Marine had met the PQQ criteria in relation to financial standing and the builder's refund guarantee.
The Scottish Government said that it remained "committed" to being as "open as transparent as possible" in relation to decisions around that the ferry fiasco and that the matter has also been the subject of "detailed inquiries" by parliamentary committees and Audit Scotland.
“As the former First Minister made clear to parliament, we are committed to undertaking a full “lessons learned” exercise on the completion of these vessels," a spokesman said.
“Our priorities have always been and remain the completion of the two ferries, securing a future for the yard and its workforce and supporting our island communities that rely on this type of vessel on a daily basis.”
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