The Olympic Games, which is just weeks away, has reached a standstill without enough guards for its July 27th start date. British lawmakers were forced to tear into chief executive Nick Buckles of G4S, the security contractor for the games.
The company agreed to provide 10,400 guards for the Olympics and then 6 days later, admitted that they weren't able to do so. Because of the company's failure to provide guards, the government called in 3,500 personnel and extra police to be deployed. G4S has a government contract worth $444 million, but only were able to have 4,000 guards trained and ready. Buckles admitted publically that the debacle is in "humiliating shambles."
Buckles said that the company expected to have 7,000 ready by July 27th. James Brokenshire, the minster responsible for security said that GS4 had been responsible by admitting that they weren't able to provide what the contract states. When asked to whether GS4 would receive penalties, Brokenshire told the The Guardian, "Part of that budget [for security] is for the payment to guards for the delivery of that service, and therefore that will mean that there will be less paid in respect of guards that will clearly not be delivered."
The company admitted full responsibility for the shortcomings and also stated that they accepted the government's decision to provide backup. The company said in a statement, "This has been an unprecedented and very complex security recruitment, training and deployment exercise which has been carried out to a tight timescale. We have encountered some issues in relation to workforce supply and scheduling over the last couple of weeks, but are resolving these every day and remain committed to providing a security workforce for the start of the London 2012 Games."
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