Helicopter privatisation deal scrapped

wdnews@bepp.co.uk

The collapse of the controversial privatisation of the search and rescue service is good news for the West, MP David Laws said yesterday.

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And the Government confirmed yesterday it had halted the £6 billion scheme because the preferred bidder admitted it had access to commercially sensitive information.

Military police are now probing how the data came to be in the possession of CHC Helicopter, a member of the foreign Soteria consortium.

The alarm was raised back in 2008 by rival bidder the UK Air Rescue Service, which includes AgustaWestland, and questions will be asked over why it has taken so long to pull the plug.

AgustaWestland employs hundreds of highly-skilled workers in Mr Laws’ Yeovil constituency in South Somerset and the Liberal Democrat MP welcomed the decision to scrap the contract.

He said: “It would have been totally inappropriate to proceed with the current contract given all that has happened.

“I hope the Government will now look at extending the life of the existing Sea King helicopters, and that they will then open up a new competition to find a long-term solution.

“AgustaWestland stands ready to assist the Government in finding both short and long term solutions on this, and this could be positive for jobs and orders in our area.”

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said Soteria had voluntarily told him in December about “irregularities regarding the conduct of their bid team.”

This included the access to commercially sensitive information about the Government project team’s evaluation of industry bids.

There was also “evidence a former member of that project team had assisted the consortium in its bid preparation, contrary to explicit assurances given.”

Mr Hammond said MoD police are investigating, but even before the outcome of the inquiry there was sufficient information to conclude it would not be appropriate to proceed.

“The Department for Transport and the Ministry of Defence will now consider the potential procurement options to meet future requirements for search and rescue helicopters in the UK.”

Soteria said it was disappointed to learn of the cancellation of the search and rescue helicopter programme.

Bob Crow of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union added: “Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been wasted and the whole plan should now be scrapped, not shelved.”

The service is currently provided by the RAF and Royal Navy, including at RNAS Yeovilton, as well as civilian helicopters from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, from sites such as Portland in Dorset and Chivenor in North Devon.

The deal would have meant the end of the Royal Navy’s fleet of 36 Sea King helicopters, as flown by Prince William who is stationed in Wales and reportedly lobbied the Prime Minister over the issue.