A most interesting post by Peter Cook at that excellent blog, HR Zone. You can read it for yourself but in simple terms, his competitor secured the relevant government contract because they offered to do the work free of charge, given their existing (and clearly, they hoped, ongoing) relationship with the procuring authority.
Yes, there may well be arguments that this was a below threshold procurement and that the full weight of the Public Contracts Regulations doesn’t apply, but come on…..Have they never heard of Telaustria? Or the Public Sector Directive?
The blog will be keeping an eye on HR Zone to see what response, if any, Peter gets from Vince Cable.