Controversial British firm wins EU security job in Gaza - Main contents

BRUSSELS - The EU diplomatic service has confirmed that British company Page Protective Services (PPS) will guard its people in Gaza and the West Bank despite the firm's poor track record.

A note published on the EU's Tenders Electronic Daily website on Saturday (27 April) says PPS will be paid €13.4 million plus VAT to do the work over the next four years.

The fee is almost double what was foreseen in the original tender, published last July, which said the contract would be worth between €6 million and €8 million.

The EU has 16 diplomatic staff and another 50 or so officials stationed in Jerusalem.

Their activities in the West Bank are considered to be fairly low risk. But their occasional trips to Gaza, which hosts Islamist radical groups and which is prone to sudden eruptions of fighting with Israel, are more dangerous.

One EU diplomat recalled that his first-ever visit to the Gaza strip coincided with an Israeli air strike.

"Within hours of arriving, I found myself in a car holding a wounded man with blood everywhere. I had to ask myself the question there and then: am I really cut out for this?" he told this website.

Just two other security companies put in bids.

Many firms do not like to work under Israeli jurisdiction in the occupied Palestinian territories because it means that governments in Arab countries will not grant them work permits for political reasons.

The European External Action Service (EEAS) said on Monday it was not ready to give an immediate comment on the PPS decision.

But the award caused surprise in the private security sector following revelations on PPS' poor track record on EU contracts in Afghanistan and in Gaza/West Bank.

PPS has been guarding EU diplomats in Afghanistan since 2008 and did Gaza/West Bank between 2005 and 2010.

In Afghanistan, it failed to supply the right body armour and rifles to its guards for more than one year after the contract began.

It also failed to supply proof of work done for around €1 million worth of invoices and paid a €300,000 penalty in lieu of the full amount.

It was awarded a new contract for Afghanistan earlier this year, but then the EEAS changed its mind, saying PPS was non-compliant with the "necessary conditions."

In its past work in Gaza/West Bank, EU diplomats said its drivers did not know their way around Gaza and that they abused local Palestinian staff.

They also questioned its attempts to avoid paying social security contributions to Israel on the grounds that its Palestinian guards did not recognise Israeli sovereignty.

The then EU envoy to Jerusalem, Christian Berger, wrote in an internal letter in 2009 that he was "very concerned about their actual performance" and that PPS' behaviour "has led to reputational damage for the commission," referring to the European Commission, which managed foreign delegations before the EEAS was created.

He repeated his criticism in 2010.

The EU's anti-fraud office, Olaf, in January this year also drafted a critical report on PPS' work in Afghanistan. The text is confidential, but the EEAS says Olaf found no evidence of fraud per se.

A second Olaf investigation into PPS past work in Gaza/West Bank is currently ongoing.