TEST Valley Borough Council has been forced to begin a fresh process to procure bids to erect two statues of late Queen Elizabeth II after it was found that the authority was in breach of procurement rules.

This comes after it was announced that Quarley-based sculptor Amy Goodman has been awarded the contract.

Although the council put out a national advert, the value of the contracts meant it should have been advertised on two specific additional procurement portals.

As a result of the breach, the council has now put the contracts out to tender again.

The contract was reported to be worth £200,000.

The plan was to erect two statues of Queen Elizabeth II in Andover and Romsey as part of the Platinum Jubilee.

READ MORE: War Horse artist unveils Test Valley public art pieces for the Queen

Subject to permission, the statues would be located at Vigo Recreation Ground in Andover and outside Romsey Abbey.

Council leader Phil North had previously confirmed that the contract had been awarded to Ms Goodman, who also created the War Horse sculpture in Romsey Memorial Park that was unveiled in 2013.

National news websites including BBC reported it with designs of the two planned bronze statues done by Ms Goodman.

However, the fresh process means she will have to resubmit her bid.

An Andover planning agent Paul Flippance said the council noticed its error after he made a Freedom of Information (FOI) request based on Cllr North’s social media post about him “proudly handing a £200,000 contract”.

Mr Flippance said he filed the FOI request in October and the tender was readvertised on November 21 with a new deadline of December 19.

SEE ALSO: Andover Winter Wonderland organisers come under criticism from shops

The council said the breach of procurement was no reflection on the artist or their work.

A spokesperson for Test Valley Borough Council said: “The council recently appointed an artist to produce two new pieces of public art for Test Valley to mark Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee earlier this year.

“The authority followed a transparent and competitive procurement process to award two contracts - one for Andover and one for Romsey. It put out a national advert, which was widely advertised through established public art networks, and set up two panels for the north and south of the borough to review the bids it received. The panels included councillors and external partners and they followed rigorous assessment criteria to review the bids.

“It has since come to light that while the council did follow an open procurement process, the value of the contracts meant that they should have been advertised on two specific additional procurement portals. Regrettably, this was missed, which means that the council is in breach of procurement rules. As a result, the authority will be putting the contracts out to tender again. We should stress that this is no reflection on the artist or their work, and they will be able to resubmit a bid.

SEE MORE: Canto Gelato announces closure due to rising costs

“We understand that this will be incredibly frustrating for the artist who won the bids and our communities who have taken part in the process. But we are absolutely clear that if it transpires that we have not followed our procurement processes, then we will do whatever is required to ensure we remedy that error. We are very sorry to all those affected by this, but we are working quickly to resolve the issue and move the project forward as quickly as possible.”

Cllr North was contacted for a comment. He said he is aware of the issue and the council's communication team will provide an update.