GCHQ ‘chose image over cost’ for new office, MPS say
GCHQ chose “image over cost” when deciding the location of offices that wasted public money, MPS have said.
In a damning report on government office accommodation procurement, the Intelligence and Security Committee says GCHQ put its favoured London location up against a “no hoper” in an effort to secure luxury premises.
The MPS say GCHQ’S selection of the Nova South complex in Victoria for the newly established National Cyber Security Centre was over twice the cost of an alternative option in Canary Wharf.
“The cost significantly exceeded the funding allocation, meaning that GCHQ is paying for the shortfall out of its main budget, money which could otherwise have been spent on operational capabilities,” committee members said.
The report said criteria for selecting the location were “faulty”, warnings were ignored, and the process used “an absurd weighting mechanism, unjustified score changes [and] a ‘no-hoper’ alternative”.
“The procurement process was unacceptable, with an emphasis on image rather than cost,” committee members Kevan Jones and Stewart Hosie said in the report.
However, responding in a written statement, the Prime Minister said the procurement of Nova South was “a unique challenge, undertaken within a demanding time frame”. He acknowledged there are “lessons that can be
learned from the procurement process”.
The business case for Nova South shows the annual running cost of £6.4 million is over double the £3.1 million of the Canary Wharf option and well above the £3.5 million annual allocation set in 2015. Over the 15-year span of the negotiated lease, the difference in cost between Nova South and Canary Wharf amounts to around £50m.