Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Lawyer says £145m Covid contract is ’not lawful’
AN eye-popping £145million test and trace contract given to a private company with Tory links was not lawful, a top barrister has claimed.
The huge sum – paid to Big Four accountancy firm Deloitte – accounts for nearly a third of the Government’s total spend on consultants hired to combat Covid.
Now the Good Law Project has launched legal action against the Department of Health and Social Care for handing out the contract with no tender process.
The not-for-profit organisation has also blasted the Government for waiting until the five-month contract ended last month to make the deal public.
TRANSPARENCY
The legal action comes amid ongoing criticism of the Government’s disastrous £22billion test and trace system.
Jolyon Maugham QC, of the Good Law Project, said: “It’s like we set up a whole new Government department, but instead of civil servants paid £40,000 a year, it’s run by hundreds of private consultants for whom we pay £40,000 a month.
“It’s almost impossible to scrutinise the contracts because Government fails to publish the details within the legal timeframe.
“We do not believe the award of this contract was lawful. We are left with no option but to pursue transparency through the courts.”
The contract is just one of 312 Covid-related deals awarded to private consultants. The total bill stands at £478.4m.
The Good Law Project found Deloitte was handed 25 of these contracts, totalling £193.3m. Five of them, worth £170.5m, were awarded with no competition.
A DHSC spokeswoman said: “We do not comment on legal proceedings or specific contractual arrangements.”