Rivals query XMA Welsh council win

Competing resellers blast 'unfair' procurement process after losing out on £3.5m laptop deal

The validity of a multi-million pound public sector contract win by Westcoast-owned VAR XMA has been questioned by its rivals.

XMA clinched a deal to supply Torfaen County Borough Council with over 8,600 laptops last month through the Value Wales procurement framework.

The deal, rumoured to be worth more than £3.5m, has incurred the wrath of some of the framework's other suppliers who claim XMA were awarded the contract unfairly.

According to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted to Torfaen County Borough Council by ChannelWeb, a "mini-competition" was held in November 2010 to find a supplier for the laptops within the Value Wales programme.

As guidance, the accompanying documentation stated that the council had purchased 408 laptops between April 2009 and March 2010.

XMA was awarded the contract, the FOI document states, because it "submitted the lowest price tender for the notebooks" compared to the other suppliers.

Sources claim that most of the suppliers who competed for the deal based their quotes on the 408 units figure stated in the mini-competition document.

And, because the eventual number of units ordered by the council ended up being far higher, believe a second tender should have been carried out.

A source at one of the suppliers, who asked not be named, said: "The council placed a single order with XMA for more than 8,600 units based on the original stated quantity of 400 laptops.

"They did that without obtaining any further competitive pricing and with no regard about getting value for money or what might be best for their tax payers," the source concluded.

Another source also called in to question the high number of contracts XMA has been awarded under the Value Wales framework. "They have opened an office in Torfaen, which suggests the area is proving to be a mine of opportunity for them."

Peter Durkin, deputy chief executive at Torfaen County Borough Council, confirmed, via the FOI request, that XMA has clinched a total of seven contracts worth over £7m in the last five years.

"The majority of the spend was as a result of the three orders placed with XMA on March 18 and 24 arising from a successful bid to the Welsh Assembly Government to take forward a project developed by officers from Torfaen and Monmouthshire," stated Durkin.

He also added, in reference to the 400 unit figure quoted in the original tender, that suppliers were told that this was no indication of the number of units it would purchase in future.

"We told suppliers the quantity of laptops that we had purchased in the previous financial year and advised that there was no guaranteed usage for the contract period," he said.

"There was insufficient time to run another mini-competition when the requirement to purchase the significant number of notebooks was known on March 16."

Despite numerous attempts at contacting them, XMA was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.