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Any delays arising from a senior civil servant stepping away from the process to select a new key ferry provider due to a social media “blunder” will only be a “matter of days”, the Economic Development Minister has said.
Three major ferry operators have put themselves forward to win the Channel Islands contract – Condor, Danish shipping giant DFDS and Irish Ferries – and a final decision is expected imminently.
But concerns over a possible conflict of interest were raised this week when it emerged that the most senior civil servant in the department running the tender process, Economy Chief Richard Corrigan, had voted for DFDS in a Facebook poll.
He is shortly expected to be replaced as Senior Reporting Officer (SRO) in the process by the Chief Officer of the Infrastructure Department, Andy Scate.
Video: Deputy Morel faced an urgent question about the situation at the beginning of this afternoon's States Assembly sitting.
Government officials said yesterday that Mr Corrigan had made a "mistake" and that he had voluntarily recused himself from the process to "ensure good governance" and "maintain confidence in the procurement process".
CI Travel Group MD and former Chair of the Chamber of Commerce tourism committee, Robert Mackenzie, was among those to react to the news yesterday evening, stating on Twitter: "Quite shocking that the decision-making regarding such an important contract should be undermined by the stupidity of one of the key people involved in the process."
Facing an urgent question in the States Assembly today, Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel sought to reassure his colleagues over the part that Mr Corrigan had played in the process to date.
Quite shocking that the decision-making regarding such an important contract should be undermined by the stupidity of one of the key people involved in the process.
— Robert Mackenzie (@MackenzieJersey) October 22, 2024
The Minister said Mr Corrigan – who was also spotted on LinkedIn congratulating DFDS on an award 10 months ago – had been an "amazing advisor" throughout the process, and continued to have his "full support".
He said the poll vote was no reflection of any preference and confirmed that Mr Corrigan "has not been involved in marking the different parts of the tender process".
"In order to keep the marking separate the tenders were provided to other nominated individuals who went through the march themselves. So he had not been involved in that stage of the process. The idea was that he would then come together with his counterpart in Guernsey," Deputy Morel explained.
He said that he and the Government's CEO were both of the view that Mr Corrigan had made a "genuine error", having only participated in the poll in order to view the result.
"He wanted to understand what the public was thinking," said Deputy Morel.
Responding to a further question from Deputy Renouf about the risks of "contamination" in the process, Deputy Morel responded: "I know there was a headline that said, 'bias or blunder?'. This was a blunder. It was not bias, and I'm absolutely convinced by that."
"...You only ever find out if it's tested in court, but I believe we are on a safe ground in that sense. He has made an error, he has immediately recused himself. I have a new Senior Reporting Officer, [and] I have other team members who are able to work on this, so I believe we are in the right place," he added.
Pictured: The poll in the Condor Ferries User Group which Mr Corrigan responded to.
In addition to securing a new SRO, Deputy Morel said other members of the project team within Government and Ports of Jersey would "provide support, given their extensive knowledge of the procurement process and familiarity with the issues at hand".
Business leaders have previously warned of any delays in concluding the process, saying that this could be detrimental to tourism bookings for 2025.
Deputy Morel said that the handover to a new SRO may result in a short delay to confirming the successful bidder, but that this would be likely a "matter of days, not any longer".
Follow Express for updates...
Economy Chief steps out of ferry process after poll "mistake"
Bias or blunder? Conflict concerns as Economy Chief shares DFDS ‘preference’
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