Tower Hamlets Council's Cabinet has noted several instances of retrospective approvals for procurement actions, totalling £882,743, raising concerns about adherence to established procedures.

The issue came to light during a review of the Record of Corporate Director's Actions (RCDA) for Quarter 4 of FY2024-2025 and Quarter 1 of FY2025-2026, which was presented at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, 17 September 2025. According to the RCDA Noting Report Q4 2024-2025 and Q1 2025-26 Cover Report, Procurement had observed that a number of RCDAs had been implemented retrospectively. In some cases, these actions had been extended more than once, pushing the overall contract value beyond the established threshold.

The council's constitution stipulates that Corporate Director's Actions regarding contracts exceeding £100,000 must be reported to the Cabinet for review. The Noting Report App1 - Q4 FY 2024-2025 and Noting Report App1 - Q1 FY 2025-2026 detailed the specific actions that were noted by the Cabinet.

Examples of actions that were noted included:

  • Appointment of Ground Investigation Contractor for Beatrice Tate School
  • Appointment of Lewis Parnell Ltd for development of safety cases
  • Director of Strategy Transformation & Strategy, Improvement & Transformation
  • Refurbishment of steel wheeled bins
  • Interpreting and Translation
  • Extension of Ninety Four Group, Project Management Services (MPPs)

The report highlighted that these instances of retrospective approval and repeated extensions were not in compliance with the Public Contract Regulations and the Council's Procurement Policy, as they circumvented the requirement for competitive tendering.

While the report did not provide specific details on the reasons for these procedural lapses, it underscores the importance of adhering to procurement guidelines to ensure transparency and value for money. The Procurement Assurance Board has been tasked with addressing these issues to prevent future occurrences. As part of its efforts, the Procurement Assurance Board will report all non-compliant RCDAs (Record of Corporate Director's Actions) in the monthly Strategic Procurement Assurance Board meetings.

The total value of RCDAs for Q4 2024-25 was £557,846 and for Q1 2025-26 was £324,897.