Explore Falinge project breached Council’s procurement rules

An internal audit by Rochdale Council into the Explore Falinge project has concluded that procurement rules were breached.

In January 2011 we reported how a staggering £53,985 had been spent on the production of a film and website to promote Falinge and revealed that the project was being investigated internally.

The results of the audit have been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The review concludes that: 

• There has been of lack of compliance with the RMBC contract Procedure Rules, specifically in relation to the procurement processes supporting the project.
• There has been a lack of compliance with Financial Regulation by Link4Life, specifically in relation to payments made for services which were not received.
• Budget monitoring in relation to project costs was weak.
• No tangible outcomes or timescales were established to be able to measure whether the project met the original aspirations set out by management.
• No means were established to evaluate whether value for money was being delivered through the project. 

The investigation report states that Contract Procedure Rules require 3 quotations to be obtained for expenditure between £5,000 and £49,999. Quotes were not obtained for the project and the contract awarded without any competitive evaluation.

Based on information received from the Council in response to our enquiries, we reported the cost of the film was £53,985. The split was £28,655 from the council, £15,690 from Link4Life and £9,640 from Rochdale Boroughwide Housing.

Auditors have concluded the expenditure was £44,860 plus VAT. The split was £19,018 from the council, £15,956 from Link4Life and £9,885 from RBH.

According to the report money was spent on the filming of 26 films about Lower Falinge, a 75 minute long documentary, film group training for residents, a website, equipment for filming by residents and publicity of the documentary.

Breakdown of costs: 

• Filming: £21,056 
• Website: £10,037
• Training: £8,596
• Equipment: £1,831
• Publicity: £1,565
• Other costs: £1,775 

Appendix 1 of the report shows there is no evidence for the £1,831 for purchasing equipment and the £1,565 for publicity.

Extraordinarily, an invoice amounting to £6,030 was paid by Link4Life despite the work not being carried out. The auditors could not find an explanation as to why the invoices had been raised or paid.

The audit concurred that the outcomes of the project are vague as no clear tangible or measurable outcomes have been established.

The Council has refused to name the council officer in charge of the project and/or those who breached the rules.

The Leader of Rochdale Council, Councillor Colin Lambert, said: “This disgraceful debacle will surprise no one who has had to deal with the shambolic way in which the previous Lib Dem run administration spent council tax payers money and how they wasted opportunities with Government grants.

“Lack of compliance with rules, lack of compliance with financial regulation, how would the previous administration know any of this when they presided over weak budget monitoring, let alone they allowed the grant to be allocated without setting any measurable outcomes and had no means to question if it was value for money.

“How much more is there to discover about their total lack of interest in this authority?”

The Leader of the Conservative group, Councillor Ashley Dearnley, said: “Now that this review has taken place the council must take the recommendations seriously and ensure this doesn’t happen again and that public money isn’t wasted.

“Public money cannot be wasted; it is not in the interests of Falinge or the borough as a whole.

“The council has got to learn from these mistakes.”

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Councillor Wera Hobhouse was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news/51366/unbelievable-amount-spent-by-council-on-film-and-website