The majority of this – 59% – went to Jersey companies, which accounted for more than £136.5m. UK companies received £90.7m.
A States vote in 2020 required the government to provide a breakdown of its use of companies inside and outside the Island.
Treasury Minister Susie Pinel said the report showed ‘that the government has been supporting our local economy during this difficult time by procuring vital goods and services from many on-Island companies’.
Four of the five top suppliers were based in Jersey, accounting for £20.8m of the total contracts awarded, including construction companies working on Grainville and Les Quennevais schools, the delivery of the Nightingale Wing, and the firm which runs Liberty Bus – CT Plus Jersey.
However, by far the most money was spent on nmcn PLC (£19.2m), a UK construction engineering company engaged to work on the sewage treatment works, more than double the second-highest spend of £7.6m on Rok-Regal Construction Ltd. The government said work had progressed on the new works, which had increased the amount of expenditure in the UK.
It paid out £231,178,449 in total in 2020. New Zealand was the third-highest beneficiary of government procurement spending at £1.4m (0.6%), with the US, Netherlands and Ireland each accounting for 0.4%.
Expenditure in 2020 reflected the impact of Covid, according to the government, ‘where many items were sourced and procured as a matter of expediency and necessity – while also trying to reflect the States’ standard commercial principles’. This included track and trace and PPE purchases.
Deputy Pinel said: ‘The report also reflects the impacts that Covid-19 had on our procurement spend in 2020, when many items had to be bought at speed to ensure we were fully equipped to meet the demands imposed on us by the pandemic.’
