THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE of the House of Commons is to investigate the controversial Intercity West Coast bid, in which the present operator Virgin came second place to FirstGroup. The contract is due to be finally signed off next week.
PAC chairman Margaret Hodge said there would be two parts to their investigation.
She explained: "We will want to see that the Department has learnt the lessons from its past failures to secure value for money.
"We have expressed concerns before about the Department’s capability in predicting accurate passenger numbers and reflecting the impact of economic conditions on train operators' revenue. Questions over their capability have now been raised again and whilst we welcome healthy competition it is essential that the Department has exercised proper due diligence.
"In the short-term the Public Accounts Committee can look at the processes adopted by the Department to respond to our previous recommendations, such as strengthening its testing of bidders’ assumptions. In the long term we can make a more rigorous assessment of whether the franchise is delivering a good deal for the public."
The decision may also be facing a legal test. The contract is due to be signed on Wednesday of next week, after a 14-day 'cooling-off period'. Virgin has said it has been examining the case for a judicial review into the award, and it now has until Tuesday to decide whether to make a preliminary application to the High Court.
FirstGroup, meanwhile, has been defending the award. The head of FirstGroup Rail, Vernon Barker, told Railnews that the figures produced for the bid are 'robust'. He revealed that mobilisation teams have now started work preparing for the handover day, which is 9 December.