The Scottish government has stretched the current contract to provide water and wastewater services to more than 100 public sector organisation until the end of September while negotiations continue over whether Business Stream or Anglian Water should be awarded the new £350 million contract.
The original decision was due to be made in February this year, but the Scottish government delayed the decision, with discussions entering a “stand still period”.
The second extension will take effect from the end of this month in order to “allow contract cover” for the public sector as negotiations continue.
A spokesperson from the Scottish government’s procurement department told Utility Week: “The extension has been awarded and at the moment we are still in the stand still period with various parties still deliberating on it.”
The spokesperson also confirmed that the contract for the new supplier, should the contract be awarded before a third extension is required, would start from October this year.
The Scottish government was urged in February to rethink the plan to award the contract to Anglian Water, which is believed to have tabled the most competitive bid.
The Scottish Green Party said it is “appalled” the contract could be awarded to a privately owned English company rather than to a subsidiary of Scottish Water, which is fully publicly owned.
In a statement, it told Utility Week: “We would urge to look carefully at public procurement rules to see how they can be used to keep public sector water contracts in public hands.”
In August last year, when the tender for the contract was launched, Nicola Sturgeon, the then Scottish minister for infrastructure and cities, said the Scottish government was “determined to ensure that Scottish Water continues to be a public success story”.