Broadband plan tender process should be scrapped, says expert

The tender process for the National Broadband Plan has been tainted and compromised and it should be scrapped, according to a procurement expert.

Dr Paul Davis of the Faculty of Business in DCU, has said the informal meetings held by former minister for communications Denis Naughten with bidder David McCourt "exposed the process" and showed a lack of transparency.

Mr Naughten resigned on Thursday in the wake of revelations of meetings and private dinners with Mr McCourt, founder and chairman of Granahan McCourt.

Dr Davis told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that there is a point in the process at which people should not lobby or canvass, it should be clear that the process has been kept neutral and a minister cannot be meeting with bidders.

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Dr Davis said unless it is a scheduled meeting to discuss technical aspects of the tender, it is not appropriate. “It must be a formal meeting open to all bidders,” he said.

It appeared Mr Naughten held a number of meetings with Mr McCourt over the space of a year which the other bidders did not get to attend, he said.

While Dr Davis did not know if the others bidders would now sue, he said he did expect them to raise concerns over whether an advantage was given to other tenders.

The procurement process for the plan now needs to be set aside, he said. “They need to go back to square one,” he said.

Dr Davis said a lot of the prep work already completed “was sound”, but there would be a need to go back to the market with the actual process of tendering.

It could take 6-12 months to put a tender in place. “Unfortunately there is no way around it. I would hate to see the National Broadband Plan scrapped itself, but because of this tender, it should,” he said.