GLA Procurement practices

The GLA Oversight Committee has investigated Greater London Authority (GLA) procurement practices, focusing particularly on:

• Silvertown Tunnel
• The Garden Bridge
• Bond Street Crossrail station
• Royal Albert Docks
• Silvertown Quays
• East Bank

The GLA spends around £10 billion on its procurement activities every year and there are a number of contracts whose value for money has been called into question.

The Committee has published a report which considers the current procurement processes in place for the GLA Group, with regard to the selection process of providers, value for money and broader issues of accountability, auditing, and transparency. The recommendations include:

• TfL should formally review the procurement and delivery of Bond Street Crossrail station and the impacts on the delivery of the railway, to ensure the lessons are learned for future major projects.
• On Silvertown Tunnel, TfL needs to ensure that its whole evaluation process is robust and transparent to prevent any future legal challenges.
• When there are a small number of bids for a project, TfL should use an independent expert to estimate the costs for the delivery of the project, to ensure value for money.
• The Mayor should review the lack of success of the Royal Albert Docks development to date and his ambitions, to ensure they remain realistic and deliverable.
• The Mayor should ensure that demonstrable progress is made on the Silvertown Quays development during 2022.