Ofqual threatened with legal action over exams contract awarded to company with links to Gove and Cummings

Ofqual has been threatened with legal action over its handing of a contract to a company for work on this year’s exam grading.

Campaigners from the Good Law Project said they would send England’s exam regulator a letter on Sunday, asking them to agree a contract with Public First was unlawful and to terminate it.

If these actions are not taken within two weeks, the non-profit organisation said they would take the issue to the High Court.

Good Law Project’s letter claims the contract was unlawfully granted without any tender process and there was bias in play due to the company owners’ links to Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings.

The contract was first reported in The Guardian, who said Public First had been hired to help the exam regulator with “insight on public opinion for this year’s exam arrangements” and dealing with additional media interest.

A new grading system for qualifications had to be set up this year after exams were cancelled due to coronavirus.

The government announced days after A-level results day that A-level and GCSE students could take teacher-assessed grades, following outcry over tens of thousands of A-level results being moderated down.

An Ofqual spokesperson told The Guardian usual tendering rules did not apply to their contract with Public First “due to the exceptional circumstances presented by the cancellation of exams” and “due to the need to urgently procure the work”.

Good Law Project have said in their letter they believe there was enough time for a procurement process to go ahead after exams were cancelled in March.

Rachel Wolf and James Frayne, the married couple who run Public First, “appear to have close personal and professional connections” with both Mr Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, and Mr Cummings, the UK prime minister’s chief adviser, their letter to Ofqual claims.