Edinburgh's Christmas and Hogmanay: Council faces possible legal action over 2024 winter festivals contract

Edinburgh council is facing possible legal action over the award of the contract for this year's Winter Festivals amid "serious concerns" raised about the procurement process.

Councillors are due to approve the appointment for up to five years of Unique Assembly, the consortium which stepped in to organise Edinburgh's Christmas in 2022 after the original contractor pulled out. Unique Assembly was then given a one-year extension to run last year’s event as well.  

But rival event planners GC Live, the only other bidders for the job, have written to councillors, urging them to reject the officials' recommendation and saying they are preparing to launch a legal action in the Court of Session to challenge the award.

GC Live claims the council did not adequately scrutinise Unique Assembly's financial position or evaluate GC Live's bid properly.

The letter says: "Given what we understand to be the successful bidder’s financial standing during the period assessed, the successful bidder ought to have provided additional justification of their financial position, and/or financial protection to the council in relation to the contract.”

And it says GC Live's tender for the contract involved paying a minimum of £1.457 million to the council, whereas Unique Assembly offered a minimum of £405,000. "There is no explanation as to why the successful bidder’s lower price scored the maximum 20 marks and so we can only assume that GC Live’s commercial offering was not scored at all."

The letter poses a number of questions on how the process was run, which it wants the council to answer.

The winter festivals programme includes the Christmas market in Princes Street Gardens, attractions like the ice rink, the Hogmanay street party and the torchlight procession. More than three million people attended last year's Edinburgh's Christmas.  And the Christmas and Hogmanay events together are said to be worth £150m a year to the city's economy.  

The GC Live letter says that out of five operators invited to tender, only two ended up submitting bids. GC Live had been reluctant to spend the time and energy involved in bidding “as we felt the council would inevitably award the contract to the incumbent”.

It continues: “However, at the encouragement of the council during a meeting between GC Live with David Waddell and Paul Laurence of Edinburgh Council, GC Live decided to participate in the process in good faith.  Unfortunately, we do not feel that that good faith has been reciprocated.

"GC Live has instructed solicitors to review the procurement documentation and are preparing to raise a commercial action in the Court of Session to challenge the award of the contract if the committee votes in favour of the recommendation, in the absence of satisfactory responses to the questions raised."

A city council spokesperson said: “We have received the letter which we are considering.”

Council leader Cammy Day said: “Edinburgh’s Winter Festivals contribute significantly to the enjoyment and wellbeing of our residents, providing activities for all ages and incomes to enjoy during the festive season. The events also bring huge economic benefit for the city and for Scotland as a whole, supporting jobs in the tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors, amongst others.

“Having carried out a lessons learned exercise, and taken on board feedback from the market, we’ve taken a different approach to procuring this contract this year, allowing negotiation, clarification and greater scrutiny at every stage of the process. I look forward to councillors considering the awarding of the contract when they meet on Tuesday.”