UK Tech Firm That Worked For Brexit Vote Leave Campaign Given COVID-19 Contract - Reports

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published June 02, 2020 | 06:19 PM

Faculty, an artificial intelligence firm that worked for the UK's Vote Leave campaign ahead of the 2016 Brexit referendum and has links to senior Conservative lawmakers and advisers, has been handed a contract worth over $500 million to aid the government's response to the COVID-19 outbreak, domestic media reports on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd June, 2020) Faculty, an artificial intelligence firm that worked for the UK's Vote Leave campaign ahead of the 2016 Brexit referendum and has links to senior Conservative lawmakers and advisers, has been handed a contract worth over $500 million to aid the government's response to the COVID-19 outbreak, domestic media reports on Tuesday.

According to The Guardian newspaper, Faculty was awarded the contract in April, although details are only coming to light after an earlier government report was redacted. The contract, worth 400 million Pounds ($501 million), was awarded by the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the newspaper said.

"Faculty is helping MHCLG to analyse data in real time allowing the department to monitor the impact of Covid-19 on local communities and respond to emerging issues at pace," a ministry representative said, as quoted by the newspaper.

Faculty will analyze social media data, credit rating scores, and utility bills to help the UK government, the newspaper said, adding that concerns have been raised after no other firm was allowed to bid for the contract.

In early May, the newspaper reported that Faculty has received at least seven contracts, worth roughly $1.25 million, from the government in the space of 18 months.

Boris Johnson's senior adviser Dominic Cummings, who has been at the center of a scandal in recent weeks after flouting COVID-19 lockdown rules, has employed the brother of Faculty's CEO and Co-founder Marc Warner, according to the newspaper.

In 2018, the UK Electoral Commission found that the Vote Leave campaign broke electoral law during the run-up to the Brexit referendum. The campaign was fined $76,500 in a landmark ruling.