Reading the Auditor’s report, it’s clear that the awarding of the concession to Graham Perks was unlawful, and highly questionable.
(The Audit Report also revealed that Graham Perks was let off £35,000 in rent (and more) from the contract that he signed.)
Everything that follows is based on facts from the report.
Wrong from the start
The very root of the concept of sub-contracting the bar and food concession of Winter Gardens (WG) is questioned by the auditor.
The WG is owned by the Isle of Wight Council (IWC) and through a contract, is managed by Ventnor Town Council (VTC).
The auditor found that the contract between IWC and VTC didn’t allow sub-contracting without written authority. None could be found.
Summary: All of the times VTC has sub-contracted the WG concession over the years may have broken the IWC contract.
VTC selection process unlawful
As the value of the concession that (the now Cllr) Graham Perks took on was so high (£512,200), the process that VTC should have used in finding candidates is laid down in law. They didn’t follow the law.
Summary: VTC didn’t abide by the law, making the process unlawful.
Bidder evaluation completely undocumented
A sub-committee was formed to evaluate the prospective concessionaires.
The current Town Clerk (Tina Bailey) tells us that according to the minutes of Winter Gardens Committee meeting held on 16th October 2006, this sub-committee was formed with Chair of the Winter Gardens Committee (ex-Cllr) Maureen Cawley; (then Mayor) Susan Scoccia; Cllrs Rob Mew; Brian Lucas; the late Brenda Lawson and ex-Cllr Val Taylor.
There’s a list of major problem with this whole process as item 43 on page 12 of the report states
Regarding the procurement process that did take place, from the records made available to us during the audit we were unable to find evidence of:
- the advert asking for expressions of interest
- the number of expressions of interest received
- which bidders were selected for further discussions
- minutes of the sub-committee meeting to discuss the proposals with the four people chosen or of the basis for the final choice.
Summary: The process is undocumented and no records exist of any competitors to Graham Perks being evaluated.
Without any evidence of this process, the councillors on this sub-committee have left themselves wide open to accusations that other potential concessionaires weren’t properly evaluated.
As the IWC auditor wasn’t able to find out who the other potential bidders were, we’ve asked one of the sub-committee, Maureen Cawley, if she could tell us who the other bidders were. She declined saying that it was “probably confidential.”
Only Graham Perks interviewed
During the interviews to evaluate the potential concessionaires, the Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) and Town Clerk were to be present.
The RFO stated to the Auditor that he was involved in only one interview – that with Graham Perks. The only other people present were the then Town Clerk, John Farrant, and Maureen Cawley.
Summary: The Audit report shows that there was only one interview.
Proper council procedures not followed
Once the sub-committee had carried out its evaluation of prospective concessionaires, the auditor states that the sub-committee should have brought its evidence to the full council for them all to make a collective decision.
Next up: Once the concession was awarded to Graham Perks, details of how it was carried out.
Image courtesy of Isle of Wight Historic Postcards
