SHB broke rules on another contract

THE health board at the centre of an investigation into its failure to put consultancy contracts out to public tender was ticked off for breaking similar rules less than a decade ago.

The Southern Health Board’s awarding of €1 million worth of business to the consultancy firm, Prospectus, without any of the contracts going to tender, is to be probed by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, following a highly critical report by taxpayers’ watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General.

After previously refusing to confirm the identity of the company involved to the Irish Examiner, the Southern Health Board last night conceded Prospectus consultants were granted six separate contracts in 2001 and 2002 that are now under investigation. As these contracts, including one project worth €580,000, did not go to tender, the SHB persistently breached EU procurement rules.