Mr. Robert Watt:

As I stated earlier, the GCCC had a debate with the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board over a long period of 18 months or two years where they discussed the merits of the approach. A derogation to move away from the lump sum contract was sought and granted. If the alternative to the two-stage process was a lump sum contract, it is not clear, although I accept that no members would claim otherwise, that we would have delivered the hospital faster or more cheaply in a better way that would have satisfied the concerns that people have. I do not think it would have happened that we would be in a position to set out the detailed design required to have a competitive competition for a lump sum contract. I do not think we would have attracted contractors who would have taken on board that risk, given the inevitable uncertainty of the two-stage process.

The issue is the way the two-stage process was managed. While I do not think the decision to have a two-stage process was the wrong one, it is clear that there are issues with how it was managed and lessons will be learned for the future. Other projects that are significant for the State are being developed where there will be considerable challenges such as finalising a design and deciding when the design will be put to market.