Prison service criticised over contracts

Prison bosses were tonight taken to task for awarding contracts worth around €95 million to one company without going to tender…

Prison bosses were tonight 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 and 2007.

The Dublin-based company was initially awarded a €2.37 million 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.”

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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 €4.7 million.

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 6 million euro.

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 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 €97 million.”

The €97 million contracts included €42 million work in Castlerea Prison, €5.71 million in Shelton Abbey, €4.443 million in Mountjoy and €20.9 million in “special service wide projects”.

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

PA