Prison chiefs gave contracts worth €95m to one firm without tender

PRISON bosses were last night taken to task for awarding contracts worth around €95 million to one company without going to tender.

Glenbeigh Construction was given 73 projects at 15 prisons between 2004 and2007.

The Dublin-based company was initially awarded a €2.37m contract after a public competition, but the Irish Prison Service (IPS) awarded the additional work without putting it out to tender.

The Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee said the contract had “exposed the taxpayer to potential and unnecessary risks of claims from other construction companies who could claim that they were denied a fair shot at the work in the capital programme.”

Glenbeigh, which was awarded a number of previous contracts with the IPS, was contracted in 2004 to build an accommodation block at Loughan House in Co Cavan.

In a report the committee said the initial project was to build 50 spaces, but instead a 60-bed unit was completed at Loughan at a cost of €4.7m.

In the tender document, the IPS said it reserved the right to extend the scope of the contract to take on a number of other projects.

The Dáil watchdog said it understood the nature of the tender notice meant the value of the contracts should not have exceeded €6m.

But PAC chairman Bernard Allen said there was no evidence of any “cronyism” in awarding the extra contracts and claimed the IPS blamed pressure to provide more space.

Mr Allen said: “While we note the arguments made by the Irish Prison Service, and we note that their procedures have changed since 2007, we do not accept the validity of their arguments, or that they could not have done things differently.

“I think that they were badly advised and should have gone to the Attorney General before they entered this series of contracts that eventually came to €97m.”

The contracts included €42m work in Castlerea Prison, €5.71m in Shelton Abbey, €4.443m in Mountjoy and €20.9m in “special service-wide projects”.

The committee also said quantity surveyors KMCS, who were hired by the Prison Service to give advice on the 2004 construction tender process, also appointed project managers for 22 projects without them going out to tender.

The PAC also hit out at the Department of Finance, with Mr Allen claiming officials showed “smugness and indifference” when questioned about procurement practices.

“As a committee, we find the department quite frustrating at times,” Mr Allensaid.

The PAC claimed the Prison Service awarded 154 contracts worth €22m over the year.

In a statement the IPS said it had complied with legislation and EU procurement law. “The Irish Prison Service is satisfied that value for money was achieved inrespect of works carried out under the framework agreement,” it said.

It also said there was scope to extend the contract and said it was coming under pressure from overcrowding.