§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) if he will list all contracts awarded by his Department to(a) financial, (b) political and (c) other consultants without competitive bidding (i) for each of the past five years and (ii) as a total the number, and the cost over the same period;
(2) if he will publish a list of all contracts or projects which are planned to be the subject of competitive bids by (a) financial, (b) political or (c) other consultants, the nature of each contract or project and the date envisaged by his Department for inviting bids; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregor[holding answer 19 January 1994]: I am placing the information in the Library.
Competitive bids are normally sought in awarding consultant commissions. The main reasons for awards without competitive bidding are; specialist nature of work, need for continuity by extending an existing contract, urgency, and the small-scale nature of some projects. Fee bidding was introduced as normal policy for road schemes consultancies in 1991.