* Atkins defends advisory role to DfT
* DfT reviewing handling of process for West Coast bids
* Atkins shares down 4 pct
LONDON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Design and engineering firm WS
Atkins could be next in the firing line for its part in
a flawed $9 billion dollar rail deal torn up by Britain's
government this week, sending its shares down 4 percent.
Independent reviews into the collapsed West Coast Main Line
deal and the Department for Transport's wider rail franchise
programme have been ordered by Transport Secretary Patrick
McLoughlin. The independent review will likely consider Atkins'
advisory role in helping to evaluate bids and provide data.
On Wednesday, the DfT said that "completely unacceptable"
flaws had been uncovered in its handling of bids to run the
line, a jewel in the crown of the rail network linking London
and Scotland.
McLoughlin said that his department's mistakes would cost
the taxpayer at least 40 million pounds ($65 million), a
relatively small but politically awkward sum at a time of
recession and squeezed household budgets.
On Friday, Atkins said it had provided "technical support"
for the re-letting of the contract, confirming it had supported
the DfT's bid evaluation process and provided technical data for
the department's financial risk assessment. It said it had not
undertaken an audit role.
"We do not believe there are any issues concerning the
quality of the advice that we provided. We believe that we have
applied properly assured and technically appropriate approaches
in line with the Department's franchise replacement process and
our own internal processes," a spokesperson said.
FirstGroup in August won the 13-year deal for the
London-to-Scotland line, only for Virgin Trains, a joint venture
between high-profile billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Group
and Stagecoach, to challenge the decision and eventually
prompt an embarrassing government u-turn.
Shares in Atkins, which have risen 38 percent on a year ago,
were down 3.8 percent to 701.25 pence at 1255 GMT.
"Should any review find Atkins to have been at fault during
this tender process, then clearly it could have a negative
reputational impact for the group, given this represents a high
profile tender," analysts at Espirito Santo said.
The DfT on Friday said it would not comment on the
independent investigation.
Atkins, which makes around 10 percent of group revenue from
rail work acording to analyst Panmure, is working on a number of
big UK projects, providing architectural and engineering design
services for the London Olympics site and on Crossrail, Europe's
biggest civil engineering project.
The group employs almost 18,000 staff globally and has also
been working on renovation and repair projects on New York's
Statue of Liberty and San Francisco's Alcatraz prison.
Last month the firm said second-quarter trading had been in
line with its expectations, with its core UK arm starting the
year well and its U.S. division still hampered by weak markets.
