GMB: Overhaul procurement rules to support Scots workers

The Scottish Government must urgently overhaul procurement rules to slow the stream of taxpayer-funded contracts being sent abroad, according to GMB Scotland.

One of the biggest unions in engineering and manufacturing said ministers must act with speed to stop, for example, Scotland’s buses being built in China and ferries in Turkey.

Louse Gilmour, GMB Scotland secretary, said the delay in awarding ferry contracts to the country’s nationalised shipyard, Ferguson Marine, reveals the SNP’s Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act is not fit for purpose.

She said: “This legislation was introduced in 2014. The world has changed and our place in Europe has changed but these rules continue to cost Scotland contracts and skilled, well-paid jobs.

“The Act was meant to ensure agencies awarding public-funded contracts encouraged domestic production and took into account the wider social and economic benefits to Scotland.

“That has not happened and is still not happening.

“Our country needs an industrial strategy that is ambitious underpinned by plans and legislation not good intentions and crossed fingers.”

GMB Scotland is leading a community campaign calling on ministers to urgently and directly award the contract to Ferguson’s to replace the Lord of the Isles ferry, that was built at the Inverclyde shipyard along with a third of Caledonian MacBrayne’s current fleet.

CalMac ferries are currently being constructed in Turkey and Poland while the nationalised yard in Inverclyde urgently needs a contract as the first step to securing its future as the last non-naval shipyard on the Clyde.

Gilmour had written to ferry procurement quango, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), asking why the recent contracts have gone abroad when the social and economic benefits of awarding work to Ferguson’s were clear.

In reply, CMAL chief executive Kevin Hobbs claimed competition rules meant it would be illegal for the publicly-owned Ferguson’s to be treated more favourably than foreign firms tendering for contracts.

He insisted CMAL asked bidders to “identify and deliver community benefits to Scotland” but told CMAL’s board in June that social value would not be scored in the tendering process or influence which firm won the contract.

Gilmour said: “So CMAL asks foreign firms how they will boost the Scottish economy and support Scottish communities but don’t score their answers. It is the definition of a box-ticking exercise.

“If these contracts are won on price alone, Scottish firms, including Ferguson Marine, can never compete with low-wage, state-supported companies abroad.

“Do our ministers really think other countries are playing by the same rules?”.

Gilmour called on transport secretary Fiona Hyslop and CMAL to use a direct award to open pipeline of work for Ferguson’s to allow the yard to fulfil its industrial potential and secure a new future for Scotland’s ferries.

She said: “If direct awards are really as difficult as ministers suggest, procurement rules must be demolished and rebuilt to protect Scotland’s industrial base and the skilled, well-paid jobs it supports.”

“It is beyond time for them to make a direct award to Ferguson’s because, if it is left to CMAL, this yard, which has been building excellent ships for more than 100 years, will never build another.”

Gilmour said the workforce of Ferguson Marine is blameless for overspends and delays that blighted the construction of the two ferries most recently built there and deserve the opportunity to rebuild a reputation for excellence shattered over the last ten bruising years.

She said: “Islanders deserve modern, reliable ferries and Ferguson’s had been building them successfully for generations.

“So why are ministers in Edinburgh allowing contracts to be sent to Poland and Turkey when they have a skilled, capable and committed workforce along the M8?”

 “The first minister has insisted direct awards are very complicated and asked for more time but the need for contract is beyond urgent.

“It is beyond time for his transport secretary and CMAL to show they have a plan for Ferguson’s along with the vision, ambition and investment to deliver it.

“Is Scotland really incapable of ensuring our publicly owned shipyard can deliver modern, reliable ferries to a publicly owned ferry company that so badly needs them?”.