A committee investigating the procurement practices of the Greater London Authority (GLA) Group has warned that it is ‘concerned’ about billions of pounds’ worth of contracts.
The GLA Oversight Committee has investigated GLA procurement practices and warned that a number of contracts might not be delivering value for money for Londoners.
The committee’s investigation focused particularly on: Silvertown Tunnel, the Garden Bridge, Bond Street Crossrail station, Royal Albert Docks, Silvertown Quays and East Bank.
The GLA Group spends around £10bn on its procurement activities every year. Transport for London (TfL) provides a procurement service arrangement for the whole of the GLA Group.
The committee’s final report recommends that TfL should formally review the procurement and delivery of Bond Street Crossrail station and the impacts on the delivery of the railway.
It also recommends that TfL ensure that its whole evaluation process is robust and transparent when it comes to the Silvertown Tunnel to prevent any future legal challenges.
The committee also recommended that when there are a small number of bids for a project, TfL should use an independent expert to estimate delivery costs.
The Mayor of London was also urged to review the lack of success of the Royal Albert Docks development and to ensure that demonstrable progress is made on the Silvertown Quays development this year.
Former chair of the GLA Oversight Committee, Caroline Pidgeon AM, said: ‘£10bn is a huge amount of money, and it must be spent responsibly.
‘Over the years, the London Assembly has reviewed a number of large procurement processes. This investigation continued in that vein and explored a number of procurements that have given this Committee reason to be concerned.
‘It’s claimed that the GLA Group’s vast buying power should help create a fairer, greener and more equitable city - but we discovered that procurement arrangements were not being followed in all cases. This led to a significant amount of single-source tender arrangements, which may not have provided value for money.
‘The scale of the expenditure makes this an area that is vital to get right, in order to deliver value for money for Londoners.’
