Network Rail cleared of unfair procurement

Network Rail (NR) has been cleared of all allegations of unfair competition by the Office of the Rail Regulator (ORR).

Last year, it was revealed that the rail operator was to be investigated over the streamlining of its welding contractors from 30 to 15 following a complaint from the Subcontractors' Welding Federation (CJ 1 October 2003).

The trade body alleged that its members had been victims of NR 'abusing a dominant position' when introducing new systems to select its suppliers and was breaching Chapter II of the Competition Act 1998.

However, after reviewing detailed responses from NR, the ORR's deputy director Sarah Straight concluded in her report that the rail operator's decision to rationalise its procurement was an 'appropriate and proportionate attempt' to address legitimate concerns relating to the quality of welding services and their delivery across the rail network.

This resulted in welding contractors being made aware of the streamlining in May last year and involved all of its suppliers applying for pre-qualification status covering commercial standing, operations, compliance with applicable standards and requirements of the specified services provided.

This process satisfied Straight and was "transparent, fair, non-discriminatory and objectively justified by these quality and safety concerns".

The ORR also cleared NR of any breach of Condition 10 of its licence, which requires the rail operator "not to unduly discriminate between persons or between classes or descriptions of persons".