London 2012 Chiefs Blast G4S Security Failures

(ATR) LOCOG leaders appear to be on a collision course with G4S in reaching a financial settlement over the private security contractor’s failure to deliver on its Olympic commitments.

G4S failed to deliver the contracted 10,400 officials to protect Olympic venues, forcing the British government to draft in military personnel to plug the shortfall in staff just two weeks before the July 27 start of the Games.

Speaking before a Home Affairs select committee meeting of MPs Tuesday that was convened to review the Olympic security debacle, LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe and chief executive Paul Deighton criticized the G4S failings.

Deighton expressed disappointment that the largest private security firm in the world had not admitted its struggle to train enough staff before July 11, the date on which he and Home Secretary Theresa May were first told by G4S that it would not deliver.

"Up until that point G4S had been very strong and clear in its assurances that it could deliver appropriate numbers," Deighton told MPs.

He said LOCOG had not made any mistake in choosing G4S for venue security "but they failed to deliver on a project which they ought to have delivered on". He said this represented a failure of G4S to manage its business efficiently.

The shortfall of G4S staff ranged between 4 percent and 35 percent – on the first day of the Games, Deighton said the company had been meant to supply 8,800 security officials but were only able to provide 6,000.

The London 2012 CEO, who became known as a man of detail in the build-up to the Games, pointedly remarked that the security crisis had "made clear to me that there is no substitute for careful planning and attention to detail".

Still to resolve is LOCOG’s payment for the botched security contract that G4S chief executive Nick Buckles told the committee had included 83 percent of the required shifts.

Deighton revealed that LOCOG had paid G4S around $144 million – "all public money" – up until July 13 but nothing since due to the breach in contract. He said the remainder of the $379 million contract was "up for negotiation".

G4S has previously admitted that it would take an $80 million loss on the contract. It was forced to pay for the additional police and military troops recruited to secure the Games.

Buckles did not accept the suggestion that LOCOG should not have to pay any more money for the unfulfilled security contract.

"I expect them to pay [the rest of money] in line with the contract," he said.

"I am not going to sit here and say we did a great job but we delivered a significant portion of the contract."

G4S bosses put their failings down to the process involved in recruiting, vetting, training and accrediting its staff. They were deployed at the Olympics across 110 locations with 49 different skill sets. After delivering only 7,800 of the 10,400 required personnel for the Olympics, G4S managed to meet its commitments for the Paralympics thanks to the 17-day break between the two Games.

Buckles conceded that his position at G4S remains under intense scrutiny. But he said an internal PricewaterhouseCoopers review of the company’s Olympics contract will decide his fate. "I will wait to see the outcome of the review," he said.

Despite the security debacle, Coe said London 2012 organizers had met their pledge to deliver a safe and secure Games.

He said G4S had misjudged the scale of the Olympic challenge.

Coe said he didn’t believe G4S had deliberately misled LOCOG "but didn’t understand the size and complexity of it [the security project]."

Asked if he were relieved G4S was not bidding for the Rio 2016 Olympics security contract, Coe joked: "I’m probably relieved we are not doing it again."

Buckles later admitted to MPs that he was not trying to find excuses for his company’s failure but conceded it had not foreseen the workload in training and delivering security staff in keeping with LOCOG’s demands.

"There is no blueprint for this, no track record, no book. This is one of a kind… when we signed the contract back we were confident we could deliver on it," he said.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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