The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint about the Council’s procurement process. It is unlikely further investigation would lead to a different outcome and we cannot achieve the outcome he wants.
The complaint
Mr Y complains the Council did not consider his bid for a service contract consistently against other bidders. He says his business missed out on the contract as a result and this matter caused him stress. He wants the Council to apologise, correct its procurement processes, and re-run the tender.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide: further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In its complaint response, the Council accepted it had made some procedural errors when considering bids for the service contract. It apologised to Mr Y for any inconvenience or distress it caused and explained what steps it would take to prevent similar errors. This included reviewing its scoring criteria for bids, to make it clearer. The Council said it was satisfied the errors did not affect the outcome of the procurement process.
Mr Y then complained about this matter to the Public Procurement Review Service (PPRS). The PPRS is a government body which investigates complaints about public sector procurement processes.
In September 2025, the PPRS upheld Mr Y’s complaint and recommended the Council review its scoring and evaluation processes to ensure consistency across all bidders.
The Council said it accepted the PPRS’s recommendations and would ensure these were implemented.
We will not investigate this complaint. The Council accepted it made some procedural errors in the procurement process and apologised to Mr Y. It explained what steps it would take to prevent these errors in future and accepted recommendations from the PPRS. It is unlikely further investigation would lead to a different outcome. We also cannot achieve the outcome Mr Y wants because we could not require the Council to quash its decision and re-run the procurement process.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because it is unlikely further investigation would lead to a different outcome and we cannot achieve the outcome he wants.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman