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Brittany Ferries' main competitor for the Channel Islands' ferry tender "legally failed" in both islands' scoring processes meaning that DFDS had to be automatically disqualified.
Deputy Neil Inder has taken the step of confirming that information - plus the fact that Condor Ferries is the named 'subcontractor' of Brittany Ferries in Guernsey's preferred option - after he was pushed for more information today.
The President of Guernsey's Economic Development Committee said he won't give the media a "blow-by-blow" account of what is happening but he did want to "highlight a few key facts" around our position, after his counterpart in Jersey gave a statement to his political colleagues today.
This included the revelation that Jersey has dropped all ferry bids and is starting the process again.
Deputy Kirsten Morel told Jersey's States this morning that the island's Council of Ministers decided last Friday to abandon the months' long process to embark on a new “rapid” process to confirm the new ferry service, which would be “short and simple”.
This came just hours after Deputy Inder said he is confident that the island can have its own ferry service, without Jersey being involved.
He also hit back at the "inaccurate narrative being purported" around the ferry tender process, saying Guernsey did not break away from the pan-island process, and that Brittany Ferries was selected as Guernsey's preferred operator based on the scoring process both islands were using, and that by doing so, Guernsey has got "certainty" which Jersey now doesn't.
Now Deputy Inder has spoken out to confirm two key issues which appear central to Jersey's reticence in confirming a contractor.
"While we weren’t intending to supply details about what was a confidential tender process, given that Deputy Morel has publicly confirmed that DFDS’ bid was legally failed in Jersey I will confirm that it received a legal fail in the Guernsey scoring also,' he said.
"This meant that, based on the islands’ jointly agreed Invitation to Tender document, the DFDS bid was disqualified from the process and could not be appointed as preferred bidder. Brittany Ferries’ bid passed all of the requirements in the tender and did not receive a disqualifying fail."
Brittany Ferries was confirmed as Guernsey's preferred bidder last month. Initially Jersey said it did not know that Guernsey was going to do this, but yesterday the island's Chief Minister confirmed that they did know before the announcement was made.
Today, Deputy Morel told Jersey's States that questions remain over Condor's finances, describing it as a "distressed" company. He also said that Brittany Ferries has offered no guarantee on how to protect Condor's customers if it were to fall into administration.
He said that after lots of chasing it was confirmed that the contact would be signed with Condor Ferries - not Brittany Ferries, despite it being the majority shareholder.
Deputy Morel also said that DFDS does have boats and that it never intended to use Condor's. He also said that DFDS has said it would be interested in running a Jersey only service, with Guernsey going it alone with Brittany Ferries.
Pictured: Deputy Neil Inder.
Deputy Inder has this afternoon confirmed some of those facts too - but reiterated that he will not give the media a "blow-by-blow" response to Deputy Morel’s statement.
"...it was Brittany Ferries that submitted the tender, with Condor named as a subcontractor," he said. "We are agreeing a Guernsey-only service with Brittany Ferries and it will be Brittany Ferries that signs it – along with Condor as its subsidiary. The financial challenges of Condor late last year were well documented and as I stated in media interviews after we announced our preferred bidder, had the bid been from Condor as a standalone entity I doubted we would have been as positive about it as we are with the Brittany bid.
"As our Committee has stated, based on our discussions with Brittany Ferries we are confident that a Guernsey-only service can meet our island’s needs."
As it stands, Economic Development is pursuing a Guernsey-only contract with Brittany Ferries, and there have been recent talks between the two parties.
Jersey is expected to hold meetings with both Condor Ferries and DFDS next week to restart its tender process.
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