What is the relationship between a jeweler established in Miami (Florida), the former owner of a pub in Suffolk (east of England) and Randox, a North Irish manufacturer of in vitro diagnostics? Answer: they have all won a substantial contract with the British government to provide protective equipment (masks, gowns, gloves) or sanitary equipment (tests …) as part of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Without these contracts having been made public, and although these suppliers – with the exception of Randox – had only very limited experience in the matter.
During the outbreak in the United Kingdom of the crisis linked to the new coronavirus, the ordinary rules for awarding public contracts were temporarily suspended under the pretext of the emergency to save lives and protect hospital staff. On March 18, the Cabinet Office (the office of the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson) thus authorized ministerial cabinets to conclude contracts without a competitive process, based on a provision in the regulation of public contracts of 2015.
From the end of spring, national media such as the Times, the Guardian, the Financial Times or the investigation site OpenDemocracy ring the alarm and evoke the frequent recourse to consulting or auditing companies, a priori less experienced than the enormous NHS (the National Health Service, the British public hospital), to respond to the health challenge. Deloitte, for example, inherits a mission to supply health workers with masks and gowns. KPMG, meanwhile, is helping set up Nightingale Field Hospital in central London.
Randox’s case raises questions
The revelations multiply in the fall. The media are reporting orders of several million pounds of public money passed in full secrecy with private actors sometimes maintaining a disturbing proximity to the government or members of the Conservative Party, that of the Prime Minister. In a country that prides itself on the probity of its officials and rule of law (respect for the law), the headlines are starting to swarm, including in the conservative press, on the supposed chumocracy (“The Republic of Friends”) which seems to govern the British executive.
The Randox case raises questions. The company has landed public contracts worth a cumulative £ 479million (€ 527million) to manufacture Covid-19 test kits and has managed to keep government confidence despite the fact that half a million tests turned out to be unnecessary as a result of safety concerns at the plant.
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