GSD calls for proper supervision of public service contracts

The GSD has questioned the Government’s decision to award a five-year, £3.99 million contract for the maintenance of the Kingsway Tunnel to Calpe Electrical Ltd, the same company responsible for the widespread power outage in April during preparatory works for the BESS battery installation at the North Mole.

The Opposition points out it's asked questions in Parliament about the company's experience in electrical infrastructure projects of the scale and complexity of the BESS system with the minister unable to provide an answer.  It now questions how the Government can justify this award given its inability to provide information to the Opposition.

The Opposition says the last two Principal Auditor reports have shown the serious financial impact for the taxpayer of a lack of proper supervision of public service contracts.

And it claims genuine questions arise as to how the Government awards contracts and supervises them.

People, it says, are entitled to expect the Government will ensure proper supervision and will also have a robust system in place when awarding multi-million pound contracts. It questions how, barely a couple of weeks after the Minister responsible, Gemma Arias-Vasquez, asked Parliament to vote on emergency legislation to penalise contractors who had caused power outages, the Government awards a £4 million contract to one such company.

The GSD's Craig Sacarello says Gibraltar deserves full transparency and confidence from the Government on these important questions that go to the root of how it awards and supervises public contracts. The last thing that should happen is, he says, that the taxpayer should end up paying more money because Ministers are not ensuring there is proper supervision.