Senior Civil Servant Expresses Disappointment with Ministers Over Ferry Tender Delay Clarification

A high-ranking civil servant communicated to two ministers, stating his feeling of being “badly let down” because there was no clarification that the postponement in a ferry tender procedure was not attributable to an error he committed on social media. Richard Corrigan, who served as a senior reporting officer in the collaborative ferry tender process involving Guernsey, recused himself from the proceedings after “inadvertently” casting a vote for DFDS in an unofficial Facebook poll. These two emails, sent by Mr. Corrigan to the chief minister and the economic development minister, were made public following a freedom of information request. In one of these communications, Mr. Corrigan penned: “I feel badly let down by the failure to establish a clear narrative with media over the delayed decision-making on future sea connectivity.” Mr. Corrigan further elaborated in the email dated 6 November, asserting: “This has left an open position for media to speculate that the reason for delay is down to my recusal and most recently, to imply some form of bias towards one of the bidders.” While acknowledging his mistake within the email, Mr. Corrigan simultaneously stated that his error was not the cause of the delay. He articulated: “The delay of this past two-weeks has clearly been down to political decision-making in Jersey and differentiated positions between the Channel Islands.” Mr. Corrigan specified in the email that “neither bidder was appointable upon the conclusion of the process,” yet he believed that the legal aspects concerning DFDS’s proposal were “most likely to be overcome in further dialogue,” in contrast to the “fundamental issues with Condor’s involvement within the BF tender.” The BBC sought a statement from the chief minister. On 13 November, the States of Jersey declared its intention to initiate a new tender process exclusively for a Jersey service, following the failure of both bidders in the joint tender process. DFDS was subsequently named the preferred bidder for Jersey on 3 December.