Decision Report 201202395

Summary

Ms C complained that the council failed to follow the appropriate tendering and procurement process for communal repairs to her close. She said that they had ignored a report requiring them to re-tender due to a lack of competitive quotes, as only two of the four companies approached had responded. She also said that the council costs were far higher than her privately obtained quotes, and that they had misled her by asking her to submit quotes that could not in fact be used as the suppliers were not on the council's approved list of contractors.

Our investigation found that the council had already apologised for the confusion about which contractors could form part of the tendering process, and had produced a new information leaflet, setting out the statutory repair process clearly for private residents. We also found that although the report on the tendering process recommended re-tendering, there was no requirement for the council to accept this, and that re-tendering could have resulted in higher costs. We did, however, criticise the council for poor record-keeping, as the decision-making audit trail was unclear.