Electronic Tagging, a failed contract. Is the Supplier at fault?


The very topical issue of supplier performance is perhaps embodied by the current electronic tagging problems that have continued to gain prominence in the press this week.

The Telegraph article offers a factual account of the recent admission and mentions contractual interpretation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/supportservices/10459367/G4S-offers-to-hand-back-24.1m-after-wrongly-billing-for-tagging-contracts.html

In this article it is shown that the Supplier, G4S, conducted an independent review on its activities; so it’s not as though they were looking to sweep the issue under the carpet.

The following BBC article raises some extremely poignant questions about the capability of the Buyer – The Ministry of Justice and comes very quickly on the back of NAO report criticising government departments on their inability to set robust contracts that they understand.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25001800

When selecting the Supplier the Buyer will certainly have looked for one that has robust processes, preferably underpinned by a Quality certification; which G4S have.  The BBC article identifies a number of incidents that could be viewed as prolonged billing; however ALL 3 articles highlight the failure of the Buyer to confirm the status.  If you seek and engage a Supplier that is Quality assured/certified because they have robust processes if you as a Supplier fail to interact with those processes that you have endorsed and agreed, in a contract, then there are significant questions for the Buyer organisation’s to answer.
 
Before reminding you of the recent NAO findings one final question, "What type of contract management was in place?"

Just to remind you of the recent NAO findings on central government contracts:

http://www.nao.org.uk/report/central-governments-management-of-service-contracts/

This tagging story has some considerable way to go and the settlement of this case will be very significant for apportioning blame.

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