HSE contract awarded to most expensive tender from Arthur Cox

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greenfield

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I am not a lawyer and do not work for the HSE and I sure that there was a complicated bidding process that we are not privy to but it does smack of plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose - people on boards getting awarded contracts, higest bidder wins...

I wonder what significantly higher means?

I try not to let myself get too angry about all that has gone on in our fantastic little country because I cannot change anything and just feel like all I will end up with is indigestion as well as a bill to bail out the banks (at least I cannot try to change anything until the general election) but when you see something like this.... AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH

Apologies - just needed a little rant.
 
Without knowing what the other awarding criteria were, it's difficult to say whether this was a stitch-up or not, although the presence of the Arthur Cox bod on the HSE board prompts a few legitimate questions that warrant some clarifcation.
 
For sure Staples, you need to know the detail of the process but according to the Irish times the difference in scoring between 1st and second was 5 points out of possible max of 1000 - does that justify a significantly higher cost? Would like to know what that difference in cost is..
 
The Chairman of Arthur Cox & Co, Eugene McCague, is on the board of the HSE. He should resign from the board of the HSE or from Arthur Cox.
 
Slash said:
The Chairman of Arthur Cox & Co, Eugene McCague, is on the board of the HSE. He should resign from the board of the HSE or from Arthur Cox.
Click to expand...

Like that is ever going to happen :rolleyes:

Eugene McCague, solicitor, is employed by Arthur Cox as chairman of that company. Eugene McCague has been appointed by the Government to sit on the board of the HSE. From any viewpoint this man is highly educated and brings alot of experience to the table.

But a conflict of interest has arisen, and from what we are to believe, Eugene had no dealings with the tender that was put out by the HSE. You would have to question the other board members now on their reasoning for choosing Arthur Cox over the other rival firms in the process.

From my little experience of the tendering process in the public service, value for money is always the main objective, but do you give the job to the cheapest, who may not provide the best service, or to the most expensive, who may have all the experience and required and could offer the best experience, especially if they have been used in the past? This is what the tendering process should expose.

Again, I would like to question the other members of the board of the HSE, and this may yet happen if they are called before a joint or select committee in the Dail.
 
Agree of course RonanC that value for money should be important which of course does not necessarily mean the cheapest. But in this case the IT have said that there was a very marginal difference between the bidders in their marking at the end of the tender so presumably the other bidder is competent to undertake the work or at least as competent as Arthur Cox. I haven;t seen any follow up reports on the difference in cost between the bidders, I am not even sure if that information is public but I agree with you that at least the board should be asked to explain their decision making.
 
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