Alan,Did you factor in "goodwill" into your bid and did the council factor in "goodwill" into the process?"Goodwill" is actually am accounting/business/banking term that sets a monetary value on the ability of a business to achieve its business (and hence monetary) goals and sets out to include the intangibles such as the accrued customer base, the "goodwill" with which that customer base views the business in terms of how well the customers, suppliers, and others, view the company which translates into its success.It is not unusual to increasre the the "book" value of a business by ten or twenty percent due to its "goodwill". It has even been known to double the value of a business.Was this factored into your bid? Did the council take "goodwill" in assessing you bid? These are legitimate questions that you could be putting into the scrutiny and appeal process. Politicans get "golden parachutes" when they lose an election after serving multiple terms in Parliament so why should the council not provide you with the same? You have served the community and council well over the years and is that not cause enough for some kind of pay off?Anyway, I think this contract should be examined and scrutinised (if necessary by independent auditors) to see if the decision was wise in terms of "goodwill".There is the council's Scrutiny Commitee, could not this be "called in" for review?Certainly the ombudsman is not out of the question, though remember the ombudsman deals with whether the process was followed correctly, not in whether the decision was necessarily right or wrong.To take this to the ombudsman you need to follow the council process before referring it upwards and this means making complaints to the council in writing.Write to the Chief Executive, copy in your local councillors and MPs, DATE and SIGN the letter or the council has no obligation to actually respond. E-mail it in and send it by recorded delivery (don't lose the receipt) or take it to the council offices (get a receipt AT THE DESK - you may need to provide your own form which they then stamp). Also, talk to the ombudsman's office too, while it cannot accept a complaint until the full council process has been exhausted it can advise you on how to proceed and "how" to structure the process so that they can take over if the council fails.Phew, I hope that is of some use.Remember, "Goodwill", that may be enough to open the door a crack into a review of this process.I am truly fed up with the council's preceived necessity to award contracts to the operators who cannot deliver on the (usually) absurdly low bid and have been shown to be unable to do so in other similar contracts (lack "goodwill").
Mark Julian Raymond ● 2901d