Randox Laboratories which employs the prominent Conservative politician Owen Paterson as a paid consultant has been awarded a £133 million contract under the new fast-track procurement rules that mean no other companies were given the opportunity to bid for the work.
The contract, awarded last month by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), is for kits to test for coronavirus. The Guaridan reports that the contract was awarded “without prior publication of a call for competition”.
The founder of Randox Laboratories is Peter FitzGerald, a polo-playing multimillionaire Northern Irish doctor who is the UK’s 475th richest person with a £255m personal fortune, according to the Sunday Times rich list. The firm has employed Owen Paterson, a former Conservative cabinet minister and leading Brexit supporter, as a consultant since 2015. He is currently paid £100,000 a year at the rate of £500 an hour.
Full story in The Guardian, 11 May 2020
