FORMER transport minister Derek Mackay was "entirely responsible" for the sign off of the ferry fiasco contract to Jim McColl-led shipyard firm Ferguson Marine, a senior Scottish Government civil servant has said.

Roy Brannen, interim director-general of the Scottish Government's Net Zero department, which oversees Transport Scotland, has denied there was a rush to sign off the disastrous contract to build two lifeline ferries, which have been delayed by over five years and whose costs have soared from £97m to £250m.

Mr Brannen, formerly Transport Scotland chief executive has said that while deputy first minister John Swinney will have had to agree the budget in his role as finance secretary at the time, he had no role in signing off on the deal.

The ferries were first ordered in 2015, but the auditor warned of “significant challenges” at the yard and said focus should be on completing the vessels “as quickly as possible”.

MSPs at the Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit Committee heard Mr Brannen, who was Transport Scotland chief executive from October 2015, just after the award was made, rejectsuggestions that the decision to award the contract to Ferguson Marine was rushed, despite concerns having been raised.

He said that state-owned ferry owner and procurement firm Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) took over two months to get final issues resolved with Ferguson Marine in ultimately awarding the contract.

Public funds auditors said ministers sanctioned giving the contract to Ferguson Marine despite CMAL concerns that the shipyard firm was unable to provide mandatory builder's refund guarantees before the contract was finally awarded to protect the ferry owners and the taxpayer from financial risk if things went wrong.

Asked about who signed off on the decision to proceed with Ferguson Marine. Mr Brannen said the decision was “entirely” for the transport minister – which as the time was Mr Mackay.

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Asked whether Mr Swinney had any responsibility for the decision, Mr Brannen replied: “No. The cabinet secretary for finance would agree the budget, which he did, but he doesn’t have a role in signing off. The decision to sign off on CMAL awarding the contract rested with the minister for transport at the time.

"The DFM's role in this was to ensure that finance and the budget was available for the procurement. But the decision on whether to proceed with the procurement was the minister's."

He added:   “If it’s a transport project then that would be the minister of transport – it’s entirely within their portfolio.

"If it’s a wider issue such as bringing ScotRail into public ownership then that might be something that’s considered much wider than a single minister as it has a wider Scotland approach.

"Given all we were procuring at that time and bearing in mind we had around £2 to £3 billion worth of work underway with Queensferry Crossing, the M8, 73, 74, Aberdeen Western Peripheral, the ferries contract would have been entirely the decision for the minister for transport. ”

It has previously been revealed in new emails that Mr Swinney was given a consultation about the deal after Mr Mackay gave the nod to the contract.

Mr Brannen said that it was "right that there's a final check done on whether there's any other financial budget requirements".

He also confirmed that “no written authority was sought” by the accountable officer, a civil servant, from the minister regarding the decision to waive refund guarantees.

Audit Scotland has previously criticised ministers for failing to properly record the ministerial decision on the waiver, as they would expect written authority to have been obtained.

Mr Brannan said the Scottish Public Finance Manual set out that the accountable officer must only obtain such authority if he believed a decision was inconsistent with “proper performance of their functions”.

Scottish Conservative MSP Sharon Dowey questioned the speed of the decision-making process in awarding the contract, despite their being a number of issues.

Jim McColl, the former boss of the Ferguson Marine shipyard awarded the ferry contract, has said the decision was made for “for political purposes” and “everything was about the optics and timing the announcements for political gain”.

Ms Dowey asked Mr Brannen: “Why was there such a last minute rush to get this signed off?”

“Because it had already been extended by two months, the ministers goes on holiday and it was then given to the cabinet secretary to sign off.

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“So why was there such a last minute rush? Is it because of the number of issues in the contract?”

He said: “I don’t think there was a rush to sign it off.

“I think CMAL, in negotiating with the bidder, trying to get to a point where they could sign the contract, took a period of over two months to get those final issues resolved from preferred bidder to contract award.

“I don’t think that’s a rushed procedure in terms of CMAL as the procuring authority bearing in mind that Transport Scotland don’t have a role in the contract.

“This is between CMAL as the buyer and FMEL as the builder, had to satisfy themselves that they were able to enter into that contract and resolve whatever issues that were apparent.”

Fran Pacitti, the Scottish Government's director of aviation, maritime, freight and canals, said it was “typical” for contract terms to be refined over the awarding process.

"I wouldn’t categorise it as being a rushed process, CMAL may be able to offer more in terms of their direct experience of that procurement process,” she said.

“It is typical from the period from preferred bidder to conclusion of the contract for there to be refinement of the contract terms.”

Mr Brannen also said the First Minister was not involved in the decision, adding: “The First Minister said at parliament they have collective responsibility for all decisions and that’s correct.”

He said it was “regrettable” the Scottish Government could not identify the paper trail exchange but added “it did turn up”.

The dual-fuel ferries Glen Sannox and Hull 802 remain languishing at Ferguson Marine's Port Glasgow shipyard amidst fears it will not see service through a rise in major faults. 

The shipyard firm under Mr McColl fell into administration in August, 2019, after a dispute with CMAL over the spiralling costs and delays, with both sides blaming each other.

The Scottish Government then stepped in to take the yard into public ownership.