An unhealthy relationship

The news leaked over the weekend that the MoJ has just re-awarded  the contract for electronic tagging to G4S - 4 years almost to the day after the then Justice Secretary announced to a shocked House of Commons that they had  been discovered to have invoiced the MoJ over many years for £100m of work they simply hadn't done, on exactly those same contracts, and that he was referring them to the Serious Fraud Office.

And the SFO still havent said whether G4S will face criminal charges! (Or does MoJ have some private understanding with SFO...?)

In my book, I suggested that the relationship between MoJ and the big outsourcers might have become 'an unhealthy, indeed anti-competitive, co-dependency' - and many* will feel that this is a highly questionable decision.


* Eg The Times, 9 July:  "Sara Murray, boss of rival bidder Buddi, tweeted: “G4S wins MoJ tagging contract while still under Serious Fraud Office investigation for overcharging . . . Beggars belief!” Murrays' own bruising encounter with MoJ procurement is recounted here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/supportservices/10678028/Buddi-withdraws-from-MoJ-tagging-contract.html

SEE ALSO  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/12/new-tagging-system-criminals-scaled-back-ministry-failings