Recommendation 28

Despite the Department appointing a contractor which could not deliver the system, the Department felt its procurement process was run successfully overall.76 In response to ICF’s proposed costs being far below the other two bidders, the Cabinet Office undertook a low-cost review of the scheme administrator’s bid during the procurement. Its review stated that the Department should undertake further technical assessment on 70 Qq 55–59 71 Qq 53–55, 58, Note dated 1 October 2021 from Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy paras 5–7 72 Managing Public Money, Box 3.2, p 16, Managing public money - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 73 C&AG’s Report, paras 16, 3.9, 3.12 74 Qq 62, 131–132, 137 75 Q145 76 Q144 Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme 17 the scheme administrator’s proposed solution, which the Department did not undertake.77 The Department accepted that it should have carried out a deeper and more thorough technical assessment, and that this could have prevented some of the issues it experienced subsequently. However, at the time it felt it understood the reasons for ICF’s lower costs, which were related to its accelerated speed of implementation.78