Transparency International has just published a studyconsidered as “historic” by The Guardianwhere alarming signs (“red flags”) of corruption have been discovered in government contracts related to the Covid-19 pandemic worth more than 15 billion pounds. This means that almost one in three pounds given by the Civil Service has been wasted by the government itself.
The report has been considered the most in-depth report to date on public purchases made during the pandemic. It points out that opaque accounting, uncontrolled prices and the “systemic bias” have resulted in “huge waste of public funds on testing and personal protective equipment.”
The report, titulado Behind the Masks (Behind the masks), He admits that it would have been necessary act quickly. The authors claim that there was a unjustifiable disregard for the publication of contract details and an unhealthy reliance by the government on non-competitive procurement (no tender), even as the impact of the crisis on the health system diminished. One year into the pandemic, UK contracting authorities continued to award contracts without competitionwhile EU countries such as Italy were returning to competitive bidding.
The report claims that so-called “VIP and high-priority lanes,” where offers of assistance arriving through the Internet were classified, civil servants, MPs, members of the House of Lords and ministerial officesallowed unqualified politicians to fast-track reviews of bids from PPE and testing suppliers, a practice said to be unique to the UK’s pandemic response.
“The most common red flags were late publication of contracts and contracts awarded non-competitively. However, the majority of these contracts exhibited red flags in multiple risk areas, including those associated with the supplier profile, the procurement process, and contract outcomes, and often spanned all three. Some contracts exhibited as many as eight red flags,” the report notes.
More than 5,000 contracts analyzed
More than 5,000 contracts across 400 public bodies have been analysed and 135 high-risk contracts worth £15.3bn have been identified as “warranting investigation due to the identification of three or more red flags for corruption, including lack of competition, delays or lack of publicity in procurement information and conflicts of interest in the award of contracts”.
The report estimates that Covid contracts increased profit margins for some suppliers by up to 40%.
Transparency International’s report concludes, as reported by The Guardian:
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At least 28 contracts, worth £4.1bn, were awarded to people with known political connections to the Conservative Party. This is equivalent to almost a tenth of the money spent on the pandemic response.
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Fifty-one contracts, worth £4 billion, went through the “VIP lane”, a vehicle through which priority was given to certain suppliers, of which 24, worth £1.7bn, were recommended by Conservative Party politicians or their offices.
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£1bn was spent on personal protective equipment from 25 VIP area suppliers which was later deemed unfit for useA high court judge declared the VIP zone illegal in a 2022 ruling.
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Eight contracts, worth £500m, were awarded to suppliers that were no more than 100 days old.
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The UK government awarded over £30.7 billion in high-value contracts without competition, which equates to almost two-thirds of all Covid contracts.
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The Department of Health and Social Care cancelled £14.9 billion of public money over a two-year periodwhich is equivalent to the total government spending on personal protective equipment.
Reactions to the report
The first reactions to the report are beginning to emerge. The Conservative Party spokesman has pointed to a report by the National Audit Office which found ministers had correctly declared their conflicts of interest.
“The government’s policy was not influenced in any way by the donations received by the party; they are something independent,” he said.
Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves has already announced the appointment of a Covid anti-corruption commissioner to examine Covid-related fraud worth an estimated £7.6bn, with a particular focus on billions wasted on the purchase of useless PPE.
The National Crime Agency is already investigating PPE Medproa company run by Douglas Barrowmanhusband of the conservative MP Michelle Mone, which was awarded government contracts worth more than £200m. Both deny wrongdoing.
Of the £1tn worth of contracts signed over the three years from February 2020, government data shows that £48.1bn was spent in relation to the pandemic, mostly on Covid testing, and PPE, and a third (32%) of that spending has raised “serious concerns”.
