Mr. Patrick Neary:

Regarding the technical advice, I might illustrate why we need those experts. In particular, we have advice from Analysys Mason on the oversight of the build. We would have sourced from Analysys Mason people with over 30 years experience in building large-scale infrastructural projects in the telecoms space. That is not replicable in the Civil Service. We are reliant on those experts to scrutinise and oversee the plans from NBI. For example, if it is looking to re-baseline its project plans and seek relief, we are reliant on those experts to give us advice and say that is an appropriate level of relief and the level of productivity it should be able to extract from the market, etc. On the build, that is just one section of the technical advice. Within that, we procure from Analysys Mason on-site inspections of quality of workmanship on the build works that have been completed. We have carried out a number of site visits. This involves relevant experts who would be able to inspect the quality of workmanship. We have done this in areas that have been in part completed and fully completed so we can see how progress is being administered by NBI so we are not just reliant on reports. We go out and have experts taking photographic evidence and interviewing people on site. Those are the type of activities that Analysys Mason carries out for us on the build.

In tandem with that, we also have-----