Awarding construction of hulls 801 & 802 to Ferguson Marine Ltd: EIR release

Information requested

Any due diligence undertaken by the Scottish Government or contracted external companies/bodies/firms including CMAL and bodies contracted by CMAL around the decision to award the construction of hulls 801 and 802 to Ferguson Marine in 2015.

Response

The Scottish Government’s procurement directorate conducted an independent high-level review of CMAL’s procurement procedure into the contract award in May 2018. A copy of the report shared with CMAL can be found in Annex A.

For context and not in response to your request, Ferguson Marine (Engineering) Limited (FMEL) was awarded the contract following a detailed, open procurement process that used both quality and price as the criteria for award. CMAL conducted due diligence in relation to all of the 7 bids submitted by 6 different shipyards.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) fully considered and analysed all aspects of the bid and the contract being awarded.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government as CMAL were the procuring authority for the NEWBUILCON contract.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested.

Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.

However, you may wish to contact Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) directly at FOI@cmassets.co.uk who may be able to help you.

Some of the information you have requested is available from Audit Scotland’s “New vessels for the Clyde and Hebrides : Arrangements to deliver vessels 801 and 802” report which can be accessed via the following link https://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/uploads/docs/report/2022/nr_220323_vessels.pdf

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI - 202200290941 - Annex A-B

File type

5 page PDF

File size

410.0 kB