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The communications regulator Ofcom has concluded that it broke its own procurement rules when a contract was awarded to a lobbying firm run by two former Labour special advisers and an ex Plaid Cymru AM.

Earlier this year we revealed how Cardiff-based Deryn had been contracted by Ofcom Wales to monitor events at the National Assembly for an unspecified fee.

There had been no competitive tendering and two of Deryn’s senior figures – former Plaid AM Nerys Evans and former Labour special adviser Huw Roberts – sat on Ofcom’s advisory committee for Wales.

Another of Deryn’s directors – Cathy Owens – is also a former Labour special adviser.

South Wales Central AM Neil McEvoy – currently sitting as an Independent after being suspended from Plaid Cymru after speaking out against the party’s support for scrapping tenants’ rights to buy council homes – complained about the awarding of the contract and said it illustrated how in his view there should be a register of lobbyists in Wales run by the Assembly.

Now Ofcom has confirmed that Mr McEvoy’s complaint has been upheld.

Alison Crosland, Ofcom’s group director of corporate services, has written to the AM stating: “Thank you for your correspondence earlier this year. At the time, we wrote to you to state that the issues you had raised were very serious and that we would review the procurement of the monitoring service in Wales.

“We have now externally reviewed how the service was procured in light of Ofcom’s internal processes and I am writing to share the outcome. This concluded that the way the contract was awarded was not consistent with Ofcom’s required processes and a competitive procurement should have been undertaken.

“The review concluded that the decision to procure the service was based on its usefulness, and the fact that employees of the supplier hold positions on the Advisory Committee for Wales had no bearing on the decision.

“As a result of these findings, those colleagues will receive further training to ensure that procurement policies and procedures are followed properly in future.

“Before the external review was initiated, the monitoring agreement was ended and this remains the case. Ofcom Wales will now be carrying out a procurement process to identify a supplier for monitoring services in Wales in line with Ofcom’s internal processes and policies.”

Mr McEvoy said: “I note that Ofcom has now investigated the awarding of the contract and has concluded that their own procedural rules were broken. The findings of the investigation vindicate my questions on the matter. Much to the annoyance of some, I will continue to ask questions on matters like these, without fear or favour.

“We need firm and clear rules in place for the lobbying industry in Wales and I won’t rest until these are in place. The public noted the irony of a competition watch dog affording no competition to its own contract and I am glad that steps have been taken to correct this.”