Lib Dem MSP Mike Rumbles asks how the bid was developed and about the tendering process and how Fergusons, who had the highest price, won.

Industrialist Jim McColl former chairman of Ferguson Marine Engineering says his company were asked to bid in an open bidding process under European procurement rules.

Mr McColl says in the tender his company were asked to work with CMAL in an innovative and collaborative way.

"I don't know if we were the highest price or not."

Mr Rumbles says the cabinet secretary wrote that CMAL could defend any challenge to the bidding and procurement process but the relationship between Scottish ministers and Mr McColl is well known.

Why would the minister put that in a letter asks Mr Rumbles, to which Mr McColl replies he does not know.

Image source, bbc

Bosses at Ferguson shipyard were to blame for the delay and spiralling cost of two new CalMac ferries, according to the chief executive of the government agency which placed the orders.

Kevin Hobbs, of CMAL, also rejected calls for the unfinished ferries to be scrapped and the work started again.

The vessels are £100m over budget and likely to be three years overdue.

Jim McColl, the former chairman of the Inverclyde shipyard, has previously blamed CMAL for the fiasco.

Read more here.

Committee convener Edward Mountain welcomes Jim McColl, former director of Ferguson Marine Engineering Ltd alongside former CEO Gerry Marshall.

Conservative MSP Edward Mountain asks if the Scottish government's proposed operational date for the 801 of between October and December 2021 is a reasonable target.

Mr van Beek says you could certainly put together a programme that could deliver in that timescale, yes.

"I think if I would have a reservation it would be about the use of LNG because the commission and driving of it may well be a challenge, but apart from that they can certainly go to sea."

SNP MSP Maureen Watt says she understands there was a globally used shipbuilding contract used here/

Mr van Beek says he had no problem with the fundamental contract used.

He reiterates his view that a negotiated settlement would have worked but CMAL absolutely refused to consider it.

Tory MSP Jamie Greene asks Mr van Beek if he knows why his advice of a negotiated way forward was ignored, and the decision instead was taken to put the yard into administration.

Mr Van Beek, referring to cabinet secretary Derek Mackay, that: "I have no idea why he chose that route, it was against my advice."

"I gave the advice it was not taken."

Mr van Beek adds he estimated at that time that there would have to be an increase in price, and without being too specific there would be a lot less with arbitration than going into administration.

As far as cost is concerned a negotiated way forward would produce a better outcome in cost and time than putting the yard into administration which would cause significant delay, he adds.

He also tells the committee he had experience of negotiating a way forward. He says: "I knew how to do it and I knew it would work."

Mr Green asks if he was surprised he his advice was ignored, to which he replies: "Yes".

Image source, PA Media

Former Ferguson shipyard owner Jim McColl is due to give evidence at Holyrood's ferry inquiry. He has suggested it would be cheaper to scrap two problem-hit "green" ferries and build three simpler ships instead. So why has the government insisted on sticking with the over-budget gas-powered ferries?

The two ferries being built in Port Glasgow have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Glen Sannox and "hull 802" are the first UK-built ships capable of running off liquefied natural gas, or LNG, as well as conventional diesel.

But they are three years late, £100m over budget and have dragged Scotland's last commercial Clyde shipyard into administration, prompting nationalisation. And some have questioned just how "eco-friendly" they really are.

Was LNG the wrong choice - or a wise decision, poorly executed?

Find out here.

Mr van Beek says using LNG in the first year of the ferries life would have been quite difficult.

What's LNG? Don't worry an extensive explanation is on its way, but for now suffice it to say it means liquefied natural gas.

Mr van Beek says he had a meeting with CalMac who told him that the two ships were not the ships they wanted, in particular they did not want LNG fuel.

The former independent adviser to the Scottish government on shipbuilding says it was also apparent to him that CalMac wanted the ships operational as soon as possible, which is why he thought it would be good to get them involved.

He was surprised that CalMac were not involved beyond not wanting LNG.

SNP MSP Emma Harper asks about relationship between CMAL and Ferguson and how did it deteriorate?

Mr van Beek says: "When I was first engaged I didn't really have much visibility of the relationship anyway, but certainly come September 2018 it became apparent to me there was a difference of view between CMAL and Fergusons about what was possible and what was going to be achieved.

"As the end of that year progressed it became much more apparent that CMAL had no interest in compromising on a number of things."

Mr van Beek then tells the committee: "When we were in the difficult situation of trying to decide a way forward, I advocated and negotiated a way out of the difficulty, this was rejected out of hand by CMAL and they thought it better that Fergusons went into administration.

"I saw first hand and had very difficult meetings with CMAL where they had no interest in compromising."

Mr van Beek says he does not agree the £45m loan would mean a £45m overrun, that was not his understanding, it was to make the yard viable to deliver the contract.

There was an acrimonious debate between Fergusons and CAML about the overrun, he points out.

"I tried very hard to have a relationship with CMAL and they clearly didn't want one."

In response to a question from Conservative MSP Jamie Greene about whether he was surprised when he was approached by the Scottish government and were questions raised about cost overruns, Mr van Beek says that "There was without a doubt a cashflow problem."

He explains: "There was a very long gap between a milestone before I got on board and the next milestone which was 801 operational."

Mr van Beek explains there was a design subcontract, an electrical subcontract and the outfitting subcontract.

Apart from the fact the maturity of the design wasn't as good as it should have been he had little to do with the design subcontract, he says.

The two other subcontracts were slowed down due to a lack of cash leading to significant slips in the programme, the expert points out.

SNP MSP Angus MacDonald asks about industrial relations at Ferguson Marine

"I certainly saw no evidence of poor relations," replies Mr van Beek, saying he walked around the Glen Sannox around eight times,

Image source, Getty Images

Two CalMac ferries at the centre of a political storm over cost and delays should be scrapped and work started again, it has been claimed.

Industrialist Jim McColl has spoken out against the Scottish government's plan to spend at least £110m on the part-finished ferries.

He was in charge of the shipyard where the ferries were being built before it collapsed and was nationalised.

Management of the yard has been sharply criticised in a new government report, external.

The ferries were being constructed at Ferguson shipyard in Inverclyde to replace old ferries on Clyde and Hebridean routes operated by CalMac.

They are more than a year overdue.

• Costs double on delayed CalMac ferry contract
• Shipyard formally taken into public ownership
• The lifeline ferry deal that went adrift
• Read more here

Image source, SNS

SNP MSP Maureen Watt says she can't understand why Ferguson went ahead without the design having been completed.

To say that its all CMAL's fault when they have successfully built ships before seems disingenuous, she says.

It was not his intention to say that it was all CMAL's fault, replies Mr van Beek.

"There was a lot of fault on both sides at the beginning of this contract"

Image source, PA media

Two delayed CalMac ferries are "significantly less than half built", it has been revealed.

The vessels being built at Ferguson shipyard are £100m over budget and likely to be three years overdue.

A Holyrood inquiry into the delay was told warnings the Inverclyde yard was not set up to build two ferries side-by-side were ignored.

Work got under way before designs were finalised and workforce morale was badly hit by the delay, MSPs heard.

Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited (FMEL) was taken in to public ownership by the Scottish governmentlast year after the ferry problems led to it going into administration.

The row between Jim McColl - the yard's previous owner and CMAL - the government agency which placed the order, was described as being like the "stand-off at the OK Corral".

• The lifeline ferry deal that went adrift
• What's gone wrong with CalMac's new ferries?
• Ferguson shipyard bosses blamed for ferries fiasco
• Read more here

Mr van Beek says before he was engaged he gained the impression that there had been poor control of the change process by Fergusons, but they had a good system in the time he was engaged.

He was surprised by how significant the changes were given it was a design and build contract, as he would have expected most of the designs to have been completed.

For example CMAL had not agreed the specifications required to build blocks that were necessary, he explains.

"There is no doubt there were faults on both sides, client and builder."

Mr van Beek says nearly as significant a problem was the failure of CMAL to agree specifications.

Mr Rumbles asks how Mr Van Beek can justify his conclusion that Ferguson Marine was a competent and well managed shipyard given the evidence from the turnaround manager Tim Hair, contradicting that.

Tim Hair, the recently-appointed turnaround director, said the vessels were "significantly less than half built" and 95% of the ships' design has not been agreed with CMAL more than four years after the deal was first brokered.

Mr van Beek replies that he has read Mr Hair's report and quite a lot of it he found surprising and not in accord with what he witnessed.

The expert says he saw evidence of significant evidence of competent management, for three months there was a plan delivered to time and cost.

Mr Van Beek cites the deteriorating relationship between Fergusons and CMAL which was really adversarial.

He says CMAL had a view that was not in accord with him and when he met with them they were remarkably difficult to deal with, aggressive and clearly did not want him to be there.

Mr Van Beek says there were things CMAL were doing that were unhelpful and didn't want to discuss how to make things better.