The National Audit Office would later discover that almost 500 suppliers with links to politicians or senior officials were referred to the channel. The advantage of this fast stream was that bidding firms were automatically treated as credible by government officials. The departure from standard procurement practice would lead to allegations of cronyism when it was exposed later in the year. Some of the deals would beggar belief. A small loss-making firm run by a Conservative councillor in Stroud was given a £120 million contract to import PPE from China without any competition. A
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