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<p>The Government’s priority is to ensure the continued delivery of public services,
and we have contingency plans in place to ensure this happens. We routinely stress-test
contracts to ensure that if one party within a contract fails to deliver, the other
parties involved will step in to complete the work.</p><p>The majority of public procurement
is governed by Public Contracts Regulations. These stipulate that public procurers
have to award contracts through fair and open competition, in line with principles
of equal treatment, transparency and non-discrimination. Suppliers have to meet certain
criteria to be able to bid for public contracts, including a minimum level of financial
and economic standing proven through turnover, audited accounts or other financial
measures.</p><p>Given that a large number of companies issue profit warnings from
time to time, it is unrealistic to terminate all business with such a company as this
would further undermine chances of company recovery</p><p>Once Carillion had made
the profit warnings, we took steps to ensure that greater degrees of protection were
built into the small number of specific contracts that were awarded after July last
year.</p>
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