Civica pull out of Croydon/Wandsworth privatisation process

Civica, one of the shortlisted companies bidding for the Croydon\Wandsworth libraries contract has pulled out stating;
‘Having undertaken an internal risk assessment and considering the potential risk to the Civica brand of taking on a contract which is outside their core competence, they felt they could not take that risk and must withdraw’.
This has allowed a space in the process for an in-house bid from Wandsworth Council!

see the extract from the Council minutes below;

WANDSWORTH BOROUGH COUNCIL

FINANCE AND CORPORATE RESOURCES OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE - 19TH APRIL 2012

9.            One of the shortlisted organisations, Civica UK Limited, subsequently withdrew from the procurement process stating that ‘Having undertaken an internal risk assessment and considering the potential risk to the Civica brand of taking on a contract which is outside their core competence, they felt they could not take that risk and must withdraw’.

10.        In accordance with the provisions of the MOU this matter was considered by the Joint Project Team and, following consideration of legal advice, a recommendation was made to the Joint Project Board that the 6th placed bidder, Wandsworth Council, be invited back into the process.  The principal reason for this recommendation was to maintain a credible level of competition upon which to base a contract award.