CONCERNS were raised about the procurement policy of a Co Derry council which awarded contracts without going to public tender before it signed off two multi-million pound deals.
Magherafelt District Council’s public tender policy has been under the spotlight since The Irish News revealed that a single architects’ firm was awarded design contracts that were not put out to tender.
Coleraine-based W&M Given architects was directly awarded eight design contracts by the council between 1995 and 2014 to the value of £22.75m.
Earlier this year the Irish News revealed that the firm was directly awarded the design project for a £4m centre dedicated to the memory of poet Seamus Heaney in Bellaghy, Co Derry, in 2014.
It emerged last night that south Derry based architects firm Manor Architects raised concerns about the council’s procurement practice as far back as 2011.
The award-winning firm also wrote to the former chief executive John McLaughlin in 2013 to voice concerns about the Heaney centre project.
A year later the council awarded the design contracts for the Heaney centre and a separate £1.6m contract for the construction of synthetic pitches to W&M Given.
In a letter sent to Mr McLaughlin in October 2013 Johann Muldoon, a partner in Manor Architects, said: “Following on from several letters, once again it has come to our attention that without notification/advertisement or tendering, W&M Given Architects has been awarded a project in Bellaghy, a conservation village.
“As a local award winning architectural firm, we seek clarification as to why over the last number of years, and having previously noted this in a letter to you, this company continues to be awarded all projects by Magherafelt District Council and why we have never been given an opportunity to so much, as provide a quotation.”
Ms Muldoon had previously written to the council seeking meetings with Mr McLaughlin to “discuss the potential involvement for local firms” in local projects but said she never heard back.
She also confirmed that concerns about the council’s tendering process were raised with political representatives.
“Manor Architects had, through competitive tender, been awarded contracts through Cookstown District, however, in more than 30 years of being established had never been asked to tender in the Magherafelt district,” she said.
“This project (Heaney centre) was not publicly tendered, it was known that this was the case", she said.”
Magherafelt District Council merged with Cookstown and Dungannon councils last year to form the new Mid-Ulster District Council.
Independent Mid Ulster councillor Barry Monteith, who sits on the council’s audit committee, said he will raise the issue at the group’s next meeting.
“Mid-Ulster District Council has initiated an investigation of procurement procedures and this information would be key to this investigation,” he said.
A spokesman for W&M Given declined to comment when contacted last night.
A spokeswoman for Mid-Ulster District Council last night refused to confirm how much the Heaney contract is worth to W&M Given and if any payments have been made because of commerical sensitivity.
The Irish News revealed earlier this week that a Mid Ulster council investigation into how contracts were issued in Magherafelt, Cookstown and Dungannon will only cover the last three years.
A spokeswoman for Mid Ulster District Council said: "We’re not aware of the correspondence received by the former council."
