An independent auditor appointed by the Government has found that a series of unrecorded meetings between former Minister for Communications Denis Naughten and lead National Broadband Plan (NBP) bidder David McCourt is "not in and of itself a basis for finding that the procurement process has been tainted".

The minister resigned last month over the controversy and the Government ordered consultant James Smyth to audit the tender process, in which US-based McCourt leads the only remaining bid.

Naughten's resignation 'insulates' the process

"I am satisfied that neither the former minister nor Mr McCourt had the opportunity to influence the conduct of the tender process," Smyth concluded.

"I also believe that the decision of the former minister to resign thereby removing himself from the process, insulates the process from any apparent bias created by his engagements with Mr McCourt."

While the informal meetings "gave cause for concern," Smyth said that it was not possible to ban Department of Communications officials and industry bidders from engaging with each other because they have other business in common outside the NBP.

Tender evaluation under way

Accepting the findings of the report after a cabinet meeting this Tuesday, Minister for Communications Richard Bruton said that his Department was continuing to examine the McCourt-led bid.

“The expert procurement team managing the NBP procurement process in my Department has been engaged in the evaluation of the final tender received on 18 September from the remaining bidder – Granahan McCourt," Minister Bruton said.

"This will lead to a recommendation to Government as to whether or not to appoint the Granahan McCourt-led consortium as preferred bidder in the National Broadband Plan State-led intervention procurement process having regard to matters including the maximum subsidy required."

Industry sources have estimated the cost of rolling out fibre to 540,000 addresses in the plan to be over €1bn, with some questioning the merits of using this technology.

Budget 2019: €87m will barely start broadband roll-out

Rural broadband scheme not compromised – report

A Government plan to deliver high-speed broadband to every rural home was not influenced by private meetings between former Minister Denis Naughten and a bidder in the proces, an audit has found.