Mr. Paul Quinn:

The Deputy will understand that I cannot comment on the tender process currently in train, so I will generalise rather than discuss the specifics. As part of our procurement processes, we always encourage contracting authorities to look at the most economically advantageous tender, and not simply at the lowest price. There is typically a weighting between the quality of the goods and services and the price at which they are offered. Depending on whether we are buying IT services or vehicles, the weighting applied between those two may vary because of the nature of the goods and services. We always encourage and evaluate quality as part of any tender process. If specific health and safety issues have been raised relative to something that is in train, I would prefer if they were raised separately. That would be in order, because we are in the middle of a competitive process and I cannot really discuss the details of that here.

There are standard processes on predatory pricing, which I mentioned earlier in the meeting, which deal with abnormally low tenders. If a bidder comes through with pricing which from a procurement perspective may look unsustainable and may compromise delivery in the longer term, contracting authorities are obliged to evaluate the ability of the bidder to deliver the goods and services and sustain those services.

The last thing anyone wants is that a contract would not perform, so there are standard processes.