COMMENT
George Cowcher, chief executive of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce, discusses the campaign to force the Government to rethink the Thameslink rolling stock contract.
other local organisations, including Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council and other partners on the campaign to get the Government to rethink its decision to award the Thameslink contract to a Ger- man-led consortium instead of the UK’s last remaining trainmaker.
T
It is engaging with the Government’s new- ly-formed Economic Response Taskforce in Derby, lobbying ministers to reverse the frankly ridiculous decision, and supporting affected workers to help them find alterna- tive employment.
The key thing is to get all the support mechanisms in place early to help mitigate the damaging impacts that a decision of this magnitude will surely have. Derby has a number of world-class manufacturers based in the city – of which Bombardier is one – which means it also has a world-class workforce.
The fact that other major employers in the transportation sector are looking to recruit workers from Derby proves that this high- ly-skilled workforce is the envy of the UK.
However, there is a danger that those af- fected by recent developments may have to move away from Derby to find alternative employment. That’s why it’s crucial that the Government not only thinks again about its Thameslink decision, but also ensures that its new Economic Response Taskforce takes firm action to retain the skills, knowl- edge and experience of affected workers within Derby and its surrounding areas.
To this end, the Chamber will continue to lobby Government to reform the procedure it uses when determining who to award major contracts to. It has twice written to Prime Minister David Cameron, request- ing an urgent review of the situation, along with issuing Freedom of Information re- quests to the DfT and Treasury in a bid to establish whether or not the Government’s claim that the decision to award the con- tract to Siemens provided best value for UK taxpayers.
This statement almost certainly does not
he Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber is working with a host of
procurement process from its inception to the naming of Siemens as the preferred contractor.
It believes that the basis of the Govern- ment’s procurement policy must be changed to take into account the wider economic impact and strategic impor- tance of decisions. It is also essential that when these bids are being determined, full knowledge of the identity of the bid- ders and the effect of decisions should be available to the decision-makers so that the wider context can be taken into account.
Bombardier’s failure to win a number of re- cent Government contracts, including the multi-billion-pound Intercity Express Pro- gramme deal, starkly illustrates how flawed the Government’s procurement process is. Bombardier is a highly successful global company used to winning contracts in many countries.
take into account the social and economic costs of the downsizing or loss of the Bom- bardier plant and the associated supply chain, nor the effect on the UK balance of payments.
The decision to award the Thameslink contract to an overseas manufacturer instead of a British one has sharply illustrated the failure of the Government’s procurement process to relate to UK manufacturing capacity.
Whilst there are European rules on this matter, there are ways in which procure- ment and the evaluation of contracts can be undertaken to ensure that UK companies receive advantageous treatment.
The current process is devised and oper- ated by highly-paid London-centric civil servants and takes no account of the need to sustain and build manufacturing activity across the country as a whole.
For there to be a healthy, viable rail indus- try in the UK there needs to be supportive Government policies in place, particularly in respect of procurement.
The Chamber has been highly critical of the Government’s handling of the Thameslink
Of the last 14 bids it has made to supply rolling stock it has won 11. In contrast, on the last five bids made where the UK De- partment for Transport was awarding the contract, it has won none.
This may simply be bad luck, or it could suggest that there is something prejudicial with the department’s procurement pro- cess that favours companies in Germany or elsewhere where there is access to cheaper finance.
The Government must review the way it awards its contracts without delay. The way in which these tenders have to be writ- ten does not allow the Government to con- sider the national economic position when awarding contracts.
If this Government is serious about re- building British
in-
dustry, then it needs to put into place pro- curement rules which support this aim, rather than handing out contracts to the cheapest bidder.
George Cowcher
FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit
www.dncc.co.uk
rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 11 | 23
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