Council to pay trader following ‘unfair’ procurement process

Following an auction of council’s concessionary trading sites in March 2021, a complaint was made by the successful bidder of the site at West Bay in Portrush.

The bidder said the council altered the application criteria requirements originally stipulated after the process had begun without informing existing registrants.

According to a report from the NI Public Sector Ombudsman (NIPSO), the bidder said this meant “she paid a higher price than she otherwise should have to win the concessionary licence”.

As a result, the complainant said the application process was “unfair and disadvantaged them and those who did meet all the original application criteria”.

The NIPSO report concludes that “the maladministration identified caused the complainant to experience financial loss and the injustice of loss of opportunity to have the concessionary licence won as part of a fair process”.

At a meeting of the council’s Environmental Services Committee on Tuesday, the council accepted the NIPSO recommendation to refund the overpayments to date over and above the yearly licence fee of £7,800 plus VAT and to charge the remainder of the licence period at this amount.

This equates to £6,700 plus VAT for year one (2021/22) and year two (2022/23). Year three (2023/24) is £550 plus vat based on payments already made, making a total refund of £13,950 plus VAT.

Ballymoney DUP Councillor Ivor Wallace said he was “sorry it’s come to this”, and emphasised it was an “expensive mistake”.

He added: “I hope lessons have been learned and the same mistakes won’t be made again.”

According to a report submitted to the council, the issue arose after officers “received a plethora of enquiries from members of the public who wished to be able to participate in the auction for an outdoor concessionary trading site but currently did not have a trading receptacle”.

They wanted to attempt to enter the outdoor catering market during a period of uncertainty due to Covid restrictions and “felt they were being discriminated against and the auction was a ‘closed shop’.”

The report explains: “They wished to secure a site from which to trade from first before purchasing a receptacle. A decision was therefore taken within the department to open the auction up to those who did not have a trading receptacle. This decision was taken in an attempt to achieve best value for our assets in line with NI Audit guidelines.

“Due to time constraints/deadlines to ensure continuity of trading, a notice could not be placed in local media outlets prior to the date of the auction.”

Catherine Moore, Local Democracy Reporter