Government unmasked ferry safety

'whistleblower'
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
A potential whistleblower who raised safety concerns about the ferry he worked on was unmasked
when the Government sent his personal details to his employer, it was revealed today.
An official's decision to forward the emailed complaint to the operator of the Rathlin Island service
in Northern Ireland, without shielding his identity, has been highlighted by a probe into the transfer
of the £3 million contract to run ferries between the remote island and the Co Antrim coast.
Independent investigators, who have identified a series of errors in the Stormont administration's
procurement process, described the email incident as an error of judgment that should never have
happened.
While their report found no evidence to support any of the allegations the employee made against
Rathlin Island Ferry Ltd, it said his confidentiality should have been respected by the Department of
Regional Development.
The man no longer works for the company.
The DRD acknowledged its official had made a mistake but said no disciplinary action would be
taken because the incident did not represent a breach of data protection regulations.
The email was sent in July this year, a week after Rathlin Island Ferry replaced Scottish company
Calmac** as the operator of the passenger service between Ballycastle and the island.
All ferry staff who had worked for Calmac, which had been operating the six-mile crossing since
1996, were transferred into the employment of the new operator as part of the contract deal.
The decision to change the operator triggered a flurry of complaints to the DRD, prompting them to
initiate an inquiry into the contract award, which had originally been handled by the Department of
Finance's Central Procurement Directorate (CPD).
Auditors and other independent experts were asked to investigate a number of claims, including
allegations the award was politically motivated and the process was not transparent.
The DRD also tasked the team to probe claims of misconduct concerning its staff, among them the
incident with the email and another allegation that staff harassed and bullied a ferry employee.
Their final report, which was published today, pinpointed a number of procedural mistakes in the
procurement process but said there was no evidence to suggest there was an attempt by CPD to
manipulate the outcome of process, or that the contract was awarded to the wrong operator.
The investigators found that the CPD had used a different scoring framework in judging the two
bidders from the one they originally sent out to the operators.
However, they said this had not effected the outcome and, based on value for money criteria,
Rathlin Island Ferry Ltd still represented the best option.
The report did question why a performance bond, which would compel either party to compensate
the other if they broke the terms of the £50,000 a year agreement, was not included in the contract
between the new operator and DRD when it was an original requirement of the deal.
Investigators did acknowledge that such a bond was never part of the previous contract with
Calmac.
The bullying claim centred on the treatment of a Calmac employee in the period before the transfer
when DRD was attempting to provide the new company with information about the service.
The employee said DRD staff had harassed him when he declined to copy log book information
from Calmac so they could pass it to Rathlin Island Ferry.
However the inquiry found no evidence to support the claim and noted that Calmac employees and
DRD officials had a long-standing good relationship.
The investigators also discovered that a number of the original complaints about the tender process
had been made by someone using a false name.
The report made a total of 12 recommendations to CPD and DRD, among them a need to ensure all
staff know how to handle personal information.
A DRD spokeswoman welcomed the findings.
"The overall conclusion of the report is that there was nothing untoward in the Department's
approach and decision making," she said.
Members of the DRD's Stormont scrutiny committee were briefed on the findings of the report
today.
Chairman and North Belfast Assembly member Fred Cobain said he and his colleagues had
concerns about the lack of transparency around the procurement process and how the mistakes that
had been made created a perception of wrongdoing.
"The Department told the committee that it accepts the report recommendations and that appropriate
action, including training, is required to begin to repair the damage caused to public confidence in
the public procurement process," he said.
The Ulster Unionist MLA added: "Undoubtedly there are lessons to be learned. Today's session is
the beginning of the process, and we are looking forward to working with the Department in
improving and enhancing its performance in this area, and improving public confidence.
"The committee welcomes the publication of the Department for Regional Development's
independent investigation, and the speed with which the investigation was conducted."

Rathlin Island Ferry

Monday, 3 August 2009
Our article of 10 December 2008 ("Government unmasked ferry safety ‘whistleblower'") reported
that the identity of a Rathlin Island Ferry employee who had raised concerns about safety
procedures had been revealed to the company by the Department of Regional Development.
We now understand that information contained in our article inadvertently identified the employee
concerned.
We would like to apologise for this intrusion, and to clarify that the whistleblower’s concerns
related to risk assessments on new vessels rather than to safety concerns about the ferry he worked
on, as reported.
The article also reported that an employee of Calmac – who had previously operated the ferry
passenger service – had claimed that DRD staff had harassed him when he declined to copy log
book information to pass to Rathlin Island Ferry. In fact, the individual was asked to copy
International Safety Management documentation.
While the inquiry found no evidence to support the claim of bullying, it did confirm that a request
to copy such information was made, contrary to the impression that may have been created by our
article. We are happy to set the record straight.

** Rathlin Ferries Limited, not Calmac