John Swinney has been criticised after it emerged the state-run shipyard is barred from bidding for the latest Calmac ferry contract.
The First Minister was accused of ‘shameful’ and ‘farcical’ mismanagement after Ferguson Marine was blocked from bidding to build the replacement for the ageing Lord of the Isles.
State-owned procurement body Caledonian Marine Assets Limited (CMAL) set tight new eligibility rules that effectively excluded every UK shipyard.
Unions said it ‘beggars belief’ that nationalised Ferguson’s in Port Glasgow will miss out, and that taxpayer money will be spent buying a boat from a rival yard overseas.
Mr Swinney insisted Ferguson’s, which has yet to deliver the second of the CalMac ferries SNP ministers ordered from it in 2015, had a ‘secure future’ but other parties were scathing.
Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Sue Webber said: ‘This decision underlines how Ferguson Marine has been run into the ground by SNP ministers.
'It’s galling that their botched nationalisation has left this once world-leading shipyard unable to win contracts both on the international market and even from SNP quangos.’
The SNP's handling of ferries has become a huge issue in Scotland
BBC Scotland reported CMAL had insisted all bidders for the Lord of the Isles project must have completed at least two ships longer than 75m in the past five years.
Unlike in previous procurements, ongoing projects did not count.
Ferguson’s agreed to build the MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa ferries for £97million. But only the Glen Sannox has been delivered, with the Glen Rosa due later this year.
The cost of the scandal-hit boats, which includes nationalising the yard after it went broke, is nearing £500million.
Ferguson Marine chief executive Graeme Thomson said: ‘A rigorous review of the tender prequalification criteria indicates that, in our view, it is unlikely that any UK shipbuilder would meet the stipulated minimum qualification requirements.’
GMB Scotland general secretary Louise Gilmour said: ‘It beggars belief that a Scottish public body would bar a publicly-owned Scottish shipyard from even bidding to build a Scottish ferry.’
GMB senior organiser Robert Dreavt called the situation ‘baffling and deeply troubling’, while Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said it was ‘an absolute mess’.
CMAL said the bid criteria were ‘designed to ensure the best outcome for island communities’.
Mr Swinney said ministers ‘explored’ a direct award for the Lord of the Isles but said it was not possible ‘for a whole variety of technical reasons’.