Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many new contracts his Department awarded to Adam Smith International in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019; and what the value was of each of those contracts.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID did not award Adam Smith International (ASI) any contracts between 2017 and 2018.
During 2019, they were awarded one separate contract, Acorn (Nigeria) at the contractual value of £4.5m.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what criteria for future funding eligibility were set by his Department and Adam Smith International at the time that organisation withdrew from his Department's funding opportunities in February 2017; and whether those criteria were met by February 2018.
Answered by Rory Stewart
At the time of Adam Smith international's (ASI’s) voluntary withdrawal from DFID procurements in January 2017, our position made it clear that ASI, along with all other suppliers, will only be eligible to bid on future funding if they were able to demonstrate their ability to adhere to the high standards of integrity expected from government contractors, whilst delivering the best results for the world’s poorest and value for money for UK taxpayers.
As of February 2018, following more than a year of voluntary withdrawal from procurement, ASI resumed bidding for work with HMG. DFID is legally obliged to consider all bids from ASI in full compliance with the Procurement Regulations, and we do so in accordance with the fair and transparent tender requirements that were advertised, as is the case with any bidder.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether (a) Oxfam International and (b) Adam Smith International are eligible to bid for contracts under his Department’s International Multi-Disciplinary (IMDP) Framework Agreement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
In 2018, Oxfam and Adam Smith International (ASI) both successfully bid for the International Multi-Disciplinary (IMDP) Framework Agreement and were awarded a place on the framework agreement. There were 79 successful suppliers in total across 20 thematic spend categories.
Both ASI and Oxfam are eligible to bid for contracts under the IMDP framework.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps he is taking with with other donor countries help ensure the funding gap for the 2019 humanitarian response to the crisis in Yemen is closed.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We are very concerned by the potential funding cliff edge the UN is facing in June. The UN’s 2019 humanitarian appeal for Yemen is the largest in the world at $4.2 billion. The Geneva Pledging Conference in February of this year saw $2.6 billion pledged, approximately 20% of which has been disbursed to date.
The UK is actively engaging with other large donors to encourage the rapid disbursement of funding to the UN to enable it to cover urgent needs.
The UK has also brought forward funding and we will have disbursed over half of our £200 million pledge for this financial year (2019/2020) by the beginning of June. This included funds for UNICEF to respond rapidly to a spike in cholera. As a result, cholera cases have declined for four weeks in a row and we hope a wider outbreak has been avoided.