Published 2nd July 2014
Probation bidders - where is the competition?
30th June was the deadline for those interested in buying the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies to submit their bids. Napo is aware that at a number of bidders have pulled out of the process citing financial and operational risks as the main reason. Napo is concerned that this means the majority of bidders for 70% of the Probation Service are not third sector or voluntary organisations, as the Secretary of State had hoped; but in fact large international conglomerates that have little or no experience of working in Probation or have worrying track records both here and abroad.
- Four of the 11 mutuals have withdrawn from the bidding process in the last two weeks. They have cited that the financial and operational risks involved in the bids mean they are no longer able to commit to making a bid.
- In order to get around the lack of bidders the MoJ has now allowed for companies to submit multi-contract bids. This is again playing to the larger private companies and pushing mutuals and third sector bidders out of the frame. A multi-contract bid will enable companies to have a monopoly on the Probation Service and could result in just nine contract package areas rather than the proposed 21 CRCs.
- Many of the bidders have dubious records both here and abroad. Sodexo, the French company that currently owns HMP Northumberland have been in the spotlight recently due to violence at the prison. They are also bidding for the Northumberland CRC which could leave them running both custodial and community sentences in the area. Napo, along with other stakeholders is deeply concerned about the potential conflict of interest in this.
- Sentinel is an American company that run Probation Services in three states. In America they charge an offender for their Probation Services which has led to offenders getting into huge levels of debt and being repeatedly sent to prison for not paying their bills. Napo is deeply concerned that Sentinel definitely does not fit with the Probation values on which much of its work is based. Whilst the MoJ has assured us that charging for Probation ‘could not happen in the UK under current legislation’ we question this company’s motives for wishing to buy into a newly privatised service.
- Carillion (owners of Tarmac) have no Probation or criminal justice experience. They currently have 72 cases at the High Court for blacklisting construction staff who raised health and safety concerns in the workplace.
- Capita, the favourite for winning the London bid, was recently fined by the MoJ for failing to provide interpreters; while GEO Group and Amey, who are bidding for a number of areas, have also been fined for their incompetence in running prison escort and custody contracts.
- The MoJ has said that it does not intend to announce who has submitted bids for Probation contracts until they announce the preferred bidders in September. Napo and other stakeholders are seriously concerned about this level of secrecy and believe that it is in the public interest that the bidders are publically announced.
Read the article ‘How to get rid of a crisis – sell it off’ in the Independent Newspaper
Questions you may wish to ask
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Why is the MoJ refusing to announce who has submitted bids for Probation contracts and how can they reassure the House and the taxpayer that this is a fair competitive process?
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Given the past record of some of the bidders, both in this country and abroad, what assurances can the government give that they will take past performance into account when assessing the bids and exactly what action will be taken if bidders fail to deliver on the contracts after they have been awarded?
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Why has the MOJ not publically said that they will allow multi-contract bidding and what is in place to ensure that Mutuals and third sector agency bids will still be able to submit competitive bids to prevent regionalisation and corporate monopolies?