Randox: UK government criticised over £777m contracts

The UK government acted "fast and loose" in awarding almost £777m in Covid-testing contracts to County Antrim firm Randox, an MP has said.

Westminster's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it could not "be sure that these contracts were awarded properly".

Randox said the report was "deeply flawed and wrong in assumptions it makes and the conclusions it draws".

England's Department of Health and Social Care said there "was no evidence contracts were awarded improperly".

The PAC scrutinises the value for money of government contracts and spending.

Chaired by the Labour MP Meg Hillier, the committee includes MPs from the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National parties.

Its report into the UK government's contracts with Randox has just been published.

The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, had previously called for "a full and transparent investigation into Randox and the government contracts" following the resignation of Conservative MP Owen Paterson, who had been employed as a consultant by Randox.

Among a number of criticisms, the PAC's report said that England's Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) "did not deal with potential conflicts of interest, despite clear concerns about Randox's political connections".

"The department did not show any evidence of taking any care over potential conflicts of interest when it awarded contracts to Randox," it said.

"This was despite officials being aware of Owen Paterson's contacts with Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, the then secretary of state for health and social care, as a paid consultant for Randox while he was still a sitting MP."

The PAC also made wider criticisms about other testing contracts, saying that suppliers referred by "ministers, MPs or Number 10" had been awarded £6bn out of the £7.9bn total of testing contracts awarded between May 2020 and March 2021.

The report said that DHSC failed to be transparent about meetings between its ministers and Randox and that "basic civil service practices to document contract decision making were not followed".

"Randox's first contract for Covid-19 testing services was awarded in March 2020 without competition and did not receive the scrutiny we would expect from the department's senior civil servants," it said.

"Randox struggled to deliver the expected level of testing capacity against its first contract, which did not set out any performance measures.

"Yet the department still awarded Randox a contract extension worth £328m seven months later, again without competition."

The PAC also said that Randox had "a hundred-fold increase in its profit in the year to June 2021".

Randox made a pre-tax profit of £275m in 2021.

In a statement accompanying the PAC report, Ms Hillier said despite the pandemic "acting fast doesn't mean acting fast and loose".

"In the case of the hundreds of millions of pounds of contracts awarded to Randox there was precious little evidence to see," she said.

"Much of the business was won without any competing tenders from companies who may have had better capacity to deliver, perhaps without the upfront capital.

But in a statement, Randox called the PAC report "deeply flawed" and said the committee had not contacted them when preparing the report.

"In supporting the UK's urgent requirement for coronavirus testing Randox reacted with speed, efficiency and flexibility in delivering value," it said.

"The company developed and built, in record time, the UK's largest Covid-19 laboratories and testing services."

"It provided the Department of Health and Social Care with a PCR testing capacity at the time of greatest need, rising from 300 tests per day to 120,000 per day by January 2021."

Randox said that they had delivered "unique value" to the government, the economy and individuals.

"At no stage, either during its deliberations or in its preparation of this report, did the PAC make any contact whatsoever with Randox." their statement continued.

"Consequently many elements of its report relating to Randox are false, based as they are, on wrong and unchecked assumptions about the company."

"For that reason, they and any publications arising from them are the subject of a legal complaint."

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: "There are robust rules and processes in place to ensure that conflicts of interest do not occur, and all contracts are awarded in line with procurement regulations and transparency guidelines.

"There is no evidence that the government's contracts with Randox were awarded improperly, as has been concluded by the National Audit Office. To suggest otherwise is misleading.

"By building the largest testing industry in UK history from scratch and at pace, we were able to break chains of transmission and save tens of thousands of lives.

"Contracts with Randox and other suppliers made a significant contribution to our national response to Covid."