Playground contract is criticised

A contract to provide playground equipment issued by Liverpool City Council has been criticised by the Local Government Ombudsman.

The way the tenders were assessed "was not fair, open and transparent", Anne Seex's report said.

A company that won the initial £750,000 contract went into administration but was given the retendered job when directors applied using the same name.

The council accepted the findings and apologised to the unsuccessful bidders.

The investigation was started following a complaint from a rival bidder.

The report said no council officers acted out of improper motives but they were not experienced or properly trained, and did not properly check the information in the tenders.

Similar flaws

The Ombudsman found maladministration causing injustice and the council has agreed to follow her recommendations that it should pay £500 to other companies that tendered unsuccessfully and £700 to the initial complainant.

The council must also review some of its recent contracts to see if there have been similar flaws, clarify the financial information it requires with tenders and ensure officers are fully trained.

It should also determine a process for handling tenders from companies whose directors have previously been directors of a company that has gone into administration.

"We are implementing the recommendations from the report to ensure that in future our procedures across the council are consistent, robust, fair and transparent," a council spokesman said.