Barnet UNISON responds to £750 million pound business case

26th June 2011 admin Uncategorised

Barnet UNISON Press Release:

26 June May 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

£.75 Billion pound contract to be signed off

“The CSO-NSO Business Case is another example of Barnet Council’s slap dash approach to procurement – it denies financial and operational risks, over-states savings and makes little effort to take account of service needs and the well being of staff.” (Dexter Whitfield )

On Wednesday 29 June Barnet Council Cabinet Resources Committee (CRC) will sign off a contract worth up to £750 million to the successful private sector company winning the contract, with the option of an extension of a further 5 years to a 10 year contact it could be worth over £1 billion.

Barnet UNISON commissioned Dexter Whitfield to produce a critique of the business case going to the CRC. You can read the full report here.

Our report found:

M Up to 253 staff could lose their jobs before, or shortly after, the CSO-NSO contract commences.

M Key procurement risks have been omitted such as :

Judicial Review if unequal treatment

M Key transition risks omitted such as:

Loss of critical skills before or at transfer

M Key operational risks omitted such as:

High level service user complaints

M Key contract management risks omitted such as:

Effectiveness of performance assessment regime

M Key Financial Risks omitted such as

Hidden costs emerge

M Key Democratic Governance Risks omitted such as:

Accountability & reporting failure

M Key Employment Risks omitted such as:

Pensions

To view full list of key risks click here

This contract is one of many contracts the Council has already put out to tender in the last five months with more contracts planned to go out later in the year. Already the combined total costs of contracts stands at more than £1 billion of public money.

Barnet ‘easycouncil’ has been making headlines for a number of ‘cock ups’ in procurement and failings in contract monitoring. The latest of which was the official audit report on MetPro the bust security company employed by Barnet Council. The report made shocking reading especially for a council aspiring to outsource all of its services to the private sector.

Here are just some of the key findings of the audit report are as follows:

M There was no procurement exercise in line with Barnet’s Contract Procedure Rules (CPR) and there was no written contract with the council

M There was payment of some invoices with no VAT number quoted & some invoices were from companies had different names – MetPro Group and MetPro Emergency Response. Internal Audit found inappropriate changes to MetPro’s bank accounts

M MetPro was not registered with the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme, thus rendering the council vulnerable to prosecution or civil claims

Barnet UNISON is recommending the following:

1. The Business Case has failed to make a strategic, economic, commercial, financial and management case for commencing the procurement process and should be rejected by Cabinet Resources Committee.

For further details of all our recommendations click here

“It is now three years since the Future Shape/Easycouncil/One Barnet programme started. In that time I have dealt with two chief executives, three council leaders and hundreds of consultants. Whilst the consultants pedal outrageous unsubstantiated claims to deliver £100 million in savings all I see is £millions going into the pockets consultants for a further three years, £9.2 according to the last council budget. In that time I have seen hardly any savings. What worries me is how ‘consultancy dependent we have become!” (John Burgess Barnet UNISON Branch Secretary)

End.

Contact: John Burgess Barnet UNISON on 07738389569 or email: john.burgess@barnetunison.org.uk

1. Analysis of Business Case New Support & Customer Services Project

London Borough of Barnet (Barnet UNISON) to view full report click here

2. Recent useful Links for Dexter Whitfield

M £2bn secret profits on PFI gravy train: Public-sector projects are massive money spinner

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2003629/PFI-schemes-Public-sector-projects-massive-money-spinner.html#ixzz1QOYKpv92

M £2bn profit for companies selling debt on public projects

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8576554/2bn-profit-for-companies-selling-debt-on-public-projects.html

M PFI: transferring billions from UK taxpayers to private financiers

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/clare-sambrook/pfi-transferring-billions-from-uk-taxpayers-to-private-financiers

M HM Treasury ‘in dark’ over ‘excessive’ PFI profits