Just minutes ago @GoodLawProject and @EveryDoctorUK issued proceedings against @MattHancock for what might well be the weirdest transaction (involving £108m of public money) any of us have ever seen.
You can read more - and support - here. crowdjustice.com/case/108millio…
You can read more - and support - here. crowdjustice.com/case/108millio…
1. Was this £108 million contract ever advertised? If so, where? No one we have spoken to is aware of any advertisement.
2. If it was not advertised, how was Crisp Websites Limited chosen? Who was the decision maker? How did the name of this tiny company come to be placed before the decision maker?
3. Why was Crisp Websites Limited chosen? You can only award a contract without advertising where “there is only one supplier… with capacity to complete on the scale required”. How could Government possibly think Crisp Websites Limited was that company? (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…)
4. Why did Government wait until April until to procure PPE? You can only award a contract without advertising where there is unforeseeable “extreme urgency”? How could the need for PPE have been unforeseeable in April when the EU was urgently procuring in February?
5. Why has Government ignored its own guidance requiring publication of the contract within 20 days? It is now more than two months on and the contract has still not been published. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…
6. How was a company with net assets of £18,000 put in a position where it could cashflow a contract to purchase £108m of PPE?
7. Why did Government use the "extreme urgency" procedure to buy PPE for March 2021? The contract, entered into in April 2020, ran for 12 months. ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NO…
Cummings has written of his desire to jettison EU procurement rules. And we believe this contract ignores them. But if you want proper transparency over where these vast sums of public money go, this is your chance to get it. crowdjustice.com/case/108millio…
