HS2 payments to incoming chief executive’s firm CH2M surge from £1.4m to £32.5m in four years
High Speed Two payments to its incoming chief executive’s company have surged, as the rail project awarded another contract to CH2M today.
New figures have revealed that CH2M – where HS2’s new boss Mark Thurston is head of European operations; he joins HS2 in the spring – has been paid increasing amounts from HS2 over the past four years.
For 2011/2012, it was paid £1.4m; this had jumped to £32.5m for 2015/16.
In a written answer to a question from Conservative MP Cheryl Gillan on the payments, transport minister Andrew Jones said CH2M “has played a crucial role on all aspects of the development of the HS2 project”.
Read more: HS2 faces questions over chief exec appointment
The firm has provided project and programme management, engineering and environmental expertise, and Jones said it was “the driving force” behind the preparation, and passage, of the Phase 1 hybrid Bill.
Today it was announced CH2M had also been awarded the contract as the development partner for Phase Two B (from Crewe to Manchester and West Midlands to Leeds) of HS2.
It had been up against Bechtel and a joint venture between Mace and Turner & Townsend for the £170m job.
Roy Hill, HS2’s interim chief executive, was also seconded from CH2M and HS2 has faced questions over the potential conflict of interest.
Read more: HS2 just hired its incoming chief exec's company for £170m
TaxPayers' Alliance chief executive John O'Connell said: "This curious arrangement doesn't look great where HS2's incoming chief executive has been bidding for multi-million pound contracts from his current job. HS2 is already a dreadful deal for taxpayers and they'll want to be assured that these contracts represent value for money and were entered into without any sort of conflict of interest coming into play."
Beth West, HS2 commercial director, said: “Conflict of interest is something we have tried very hard to avoid. Our robust measures to address this range from having anonymised bidders in all award approval documentation to excluding our interim CEO from attending and receiving minutes from any meetings or discussions during which the procurement might be discussed. We are determined to be fair to everyone, and that includes CH2M.”