黑洞社区

Mace is still mulling legal action against HS2 after accusing the firm of not answering a series of questions it raised over a disputed contract on the scheme which yesterday saw preferred bidder CH2M dramatically walk away from the deal.

黑洞社区 understands that QC Michael Bowsher 鈥� the 拢650 an hour silk it hired shortly after CH2M won the deal last month 鈥� has told senior figures at the business that HS2 has a case to answer over its handling of the process for a 拢170m contract on the second phase of the rail link.

The news comes as the pair finally prepare to sit down tomorrow morning for what is set to be an acrimonious meeting about the work known as the Phase 2b Development Partner Contract.

Mace has alleged there were conflicts of interest after HS2 Ltd, which is responsible for building the network, appointed CH2M European managing director Mark Thurston as its new chief executive earlier this month. He replaced interim Roy Hill, who was himself seconded to the client from CH2M, while another senior figure at HS2, its former interim chief of staff Christopher Reynolds, who spent five years at HS2, joined CH2M last year in a technical support role.

But Mace said it only asked three questions relating to conflict of interest worries with a source confirming 鈥渨e had more questions about other issues and they鈥檝e not answered the vast majority we鈥檝e had鈥�.

A Mace spokesperson said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to note that conflicts of interest was only ever one element of our concerns.鈥�

He added: 鈥淚n our 26 year history, working on some of the UK鈥檚 most iconic projects, we have never brought a case to the High Court or seen a procurement process run like this. We continue to closely review our next steps with our legal team and don鈥檛 rule anything out.鈥�

Mace is hoping the contest will be re-run but HS2 has said it will open discussions with Bechtel, the US firm who originally placed second in the contest, and 黑洞社区 understands that these negotiations could be wrapped up possibly by the end of next month. A source said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e quite happy with our number two option.鈥�

A HS2 spokesperson said: 鈥淲e have no plans to re-run the contest.鈥�

In a statement, CH2M, which has its London office in Hammersmith, said HS2 were 鈥渁ware of the involvement of Mr Reynolds throughout the procurement process, as documented in CH2M鈥檚 bid, which expressly identified Christopher Reynolds and included quotes from him鈥�.

It added: 鈥淐H2M is clear that it went above and beyond the conflict of interest protocols, as set out by HS2 Ltd.鈥�

A source close to CH2M said the firm had not been put under pressure from Whitehall to back out of the deal. 鈥淭here was zero contact between the Department for Transport and CH2M.鈥�

CH2M, which is carrying out a similar role on the first phase of HS2, is believed to have withdrawn from the bid after deciding sticking with it no longer made commercial sense. 鈥淭hey took the commercial decision they didn鈥檛 want to be dragged along with this anymore.鈥�