£4.7m Central Heating Contract Re-Run After Council Accidentally Priced It in Tablet

By Fergus Drummond, Constitutional Crisis Correspondent

PERTH — Perth and Kinross Council has been forced to re-run the tender for a £4.7 million council house central heating replacement programme after what it called “issues with the original pricing information”, which Perthetic can reveal involved a spreadsheet, a tea break and a box of homemade tablet.

“Somebody left the tablet on the keyboard,” said Assistant Procurement Lead Shona Halliday, still visibly shaken. “When we came back, column F had changed from ‘Pounds Sterling’ to ‘Slabs’. Then someone else ‘fixed’ it to ‘Squares’. By the time it went out, we were asking for a two-year boiler programme to be costed in ‘wee bits, approx.'”

Contractors did their best. One firm quoted 4,700 slabs of tablet plus VAT. Another offered “about a tin’s worth, depending on the tin”. A third simply submitted a photograph of a Murray’s pie with the words “best offer”.

“We genuinely couldn’t evaluate the bids properly to demonstrate best value,” Halliday said. “Is a slab more than a square? Is a Murray’s pie a legitimate unit of currency? Legally, possibly. In Perth, absolutely.”

The council stressed the contract had not been cancelled, the existing contract had been extended, and planned heating replacements would continue as scheduled.

Tenants appear largely unbothered. “Nobody’s touching my boiler till March anyway,” said Letham tenant Sandra Duff, 66. “It’s got moods. It’s like a cat. It only works if you don’t look at it.”

In response, the council has introduced strict new rules banning all confectionery from the procurement office, except on Fridays, birthdays, and “in genuine emergencies”. The revised tender documentation is expected to be issued shortly, priced entirely in pounds sterling, with a small optional box for tablet “in case it helps”.

The real story: Council pricing errors force re-run of £4.7m central heating tender (The Courier, 16 Oct 2026)