Four further contracts with a combined worth of more than £7 million were awarded without competition by the Department for Education during lockdown, Tes can reveal.
It has already emerged that several major contracts awarded by the DfE since schools shut in March were not subject to a competitive bidding process - including the free laptops and free school meals voucher schemes.
But Tes can now reveal that another four contracts were awarded without competition while schools were partially closed.
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Two of these contracts, with a combined worth of more than £7 million, were the product of a “negotiated procedure without prior publication”.
According to the Contracts Finder website, this means “the opportunity was not advertised, because, for example, only one supplier is capable of delivering the requirement, or due to extreme urgency brought about by unforeseen events”.
The first contract, worth £7,265,000, was for “urgent support services for vulnerable children during Covid-19”. It was awarded to the charity Barnardo’s on 1 June 2020.
The description stated: “The intention of this contract is to identify vulnerable children and young people who are hidden from view during Covid-19 and provide frontline assistance and support to them.”
The second contract, worth £45,000, was for “flexible working Covid-19 summer term support”. It was awarded to Timewise Solutions Ltd on 9 June 2020.
The contract description provided no further information, but the agreement stated: “In the light of the extreme urgency of the current situation, Timewise Solutions Ltd are in the position to start immediately and deliver on our immediate requirement, having already established a large MAT network (15 MATs), sourced HR consultants in job design and specialist HR coaches.”
Following a freedom of information request, Tes has also been able to establish that the DfE directly awarded, without competition, a £9,000 contract for “leadership team individual coaching” for the then-permanent secretary Jonathan Slater and director-generals over the lockdown period to Steve Radcliffe Associates.
Mr Slater was permanent secretary at the time the contract started on 30 April but was sacked at the end of last month following the exams grading crisis.
And the FOI response also shows the department directly awarded, without competition, a £6,500 contract for “strategic away days” to Deloitte LLP, with a start date of 1 April 2020.
When Tes asked the DfE for more information, the department said the contract was “to provide two half-day facilitated workshops, designed to give clarity of purpose to the Project Management Office (PMO) Directorate in terms of its fulfilment of the objectives of the ESFA [Education and Skills Funding Agency] business plan”.
It added: “The sessions need to be planned and facilitated by the end of June 2020. The sessions will allow an opportunity for the leadership team to work collaboratively using an outcomes-based approach to drive conversations.”
The deals awarded without competition that have already emerged include:
Jules White, a secondary head and leader of the WorthLess? school funding campaign, said: “Even at a time of crisis it is very important that the DfE sticks to the rules regarding contract awards and tendering.
“When multi-million-pound deals are at stake it’s even more vital that decisions made are completed with transparency and independent scrutiny.
“Schools are often tied up with time-consuming tendering processes when looking to outsource work, so the DfE should set an example rather than having one rule for schools and quite another for themselves.”
In relation to the contracts for “urgent support services for vulnerable children during Covid-19” and “flexible working Covid-19 summer term support”, a DfE spokesperson said: “These contracts were awarded without tender due to the extreme urgency brought about by the global coronavirus pandemic.
“It was vital that children affected were able to receive the support they needed as soon as possible, which is why we ensured no time was lost in providing it to them.”
Barnardo’s, Timewise Solutions Ltd, Steve Radcliffe Associates and Deloitte LLP have been approached for comment.
