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Seven out of ten contracts signed by Test and Trace were awarded without competition, the UK’s public spending watchdog has found, raising further concerns about public spending during the pandemic.
An interim study by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that Test and Trace spent a total of £ 5 billion on 121 contracts that were directly awarded, without competitive bidding, using emergency regulations that allowed the government to circumvent normal rules of hiring.
Another £ 1.4 billion was spent on contracts awarded under “framework agreements”, which allow the government to do business with pre-selected suppliers.
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This brings the sum spent on testing and tracking contracts with limited competition to £ 6.4bn, about half the amount spent on policing by the government each year.
The news follows the revelation that some PPE suppliers were directed to a “high priority” channel for government contracts, leading politically connected companies to win important contracts despite apparent little experience.
The government defended its award of contracts for Test and Trace, saying it had used the private sector to expand operations quickly, but the NAO found that the spending spree had caused “specific risks”, including a “lack of central oversight” and “Conflicts of interest are not managed comprehensively.”
It also found that in some cases, contracts were only drawn up after companies had started work.
The watchdog discovered problems with deals with outsourcing giants Serco and Sitel, who were awarded contracts for contact tracing in England worth up to 720 million pounds.
The NAO also criticized the performance of Test and Trace
These contracts were so inflexible, the NAO found, that the Department of Health and Social Care was unable to change the number of contact trackers working in the call centers for three months after the service was established.
Media reports at the time found examples of contact trackers spending all day watching Netflix. According to the NAO, the proportion of time that call handlers worked their paid hours was just 1%, something it said indicated they “had little work to do.”
However, although the government “quickly realized the possibility of overcapacity,” the number of staff was only able to change after new clauses were introduced as of August 17. At this point, he immediately reduced the paid staff from 18,000 to 12,000.
The NAO said Test and Trace had recognized it had “insufficient business understanding and control” and “needed improvement”, but experts questioned why these changes were required after commercial sector figures such as Baroness Dido were brought in. Harding. lead the program.
Baroness Dido Harding
“This is a very large proportion of a large amount of money and the government almost certainly has not received as much value as it could have received,” said Nick Davies, director of programs at the Institute of Government.
“It is not clear why people from outside the government were hired to oversee this as they do not appear to have improved commercial oversight of this project.”
The NAO also criticized Test and Trace’s performance, saying it did not meet targets and did not plan for increases in demand for testing.
It found that not enough test results were delivered within 24 hours, and very few contacts of infected people were reached and told to self-isolate.
In response to the study, Commons Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier said the government had “tried to reinvent the wheel” by centralizing Test and Trace, leaving local public health teams “on the sidelines.”
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Ms Hillier said: “Speed is essential, but only two-fifths of the tests were done in 24 hours. And Test and Trace has only contacted two-thirds of the people it knows were in close contact with someone who tested positive.
“The government urgently needs to figure out what is wrong at each step of the process.
“It is clear that investing more money in the problem is not the answer.
“Test capacity has increased and it is easier to get a test locally, but Test and Trace performance is still not good enough.”
The report did not consider the impact of the massive testing program, which has been rolled out in recent days, but noted that Test and Trace spending was only going to increase, with an estimated 154 contracts worth £ 16.2 billion. that will fall between November 2020 and March 2021.
