Mr. Maurice Buckley:

I thank the Chairman and members for their invitation to attend this meeting. I am joined by a number of members of the OPW management board. Beside me are Mr. Mick Long, head of corporate services, and Mr. Martin Bourke, head of estate management. In front of me is Mr. Jim Casey, head of flood risk management, Ms Rosemary Collier, head of heritage services and capital delivery, and Mr. Ciaran O’Connor, State and principal architect. Ms Marie Mulvihill also joins us from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

I hope the advance brief and updates provided to the committee included sufficient information on the matters raised in recent correspondence. I apologise again for the late submission of the value-for-money papers. I just checked and three cases have been provided. However, I am very happy to answer any queries on the updates provided or any other matters the Chairman or members wish to raise with me and my management board colleagues today.

I will present some summary output information on the 2021 appropriation account for Vote 13 and comment further on matters raised by the Comptroller and Auditor General in the chapter of his report entitled Contract payments in respect of Convention Centre Dublin. However, I will first outline to the committee the essential role the OPW plays in how Government and the State deliver on a wide variety of projects for the Irish people.

Our vision is to maintain "our built and natural environments in harmony" and our purpose is to provide the Government and the public with versatile, innovative and specialist services. I will refer to just some of those specialist services provided to Government. We are the State’s lead body on flood risk management. We provide office space for more than 40,000 public servants. We maintain and showcase national monuments and important historic buildings such as Leinster House, where we are today. We manage public parks and gardens. We oversee the State art collection and when called upon, we co-ordinate and organise State events.

The OPW's greatest strength is its people. They bring a focus and commitment to their roles and have a wide range of expertise and experience across the property and heritage estates and flood risk management. Projects and requirements of Governments frequently change. What is constant, however, is the need for the State to have the expertise and capability to deliver on its plans for our people. That need is highlighted in the OPW's recent role in the State's response to the Ukraine humanitarian crisis, our ongoing work on the response to Brexit and the continuing delivery of infrastructure projects under the national development plan.

As the Comptroller and Auditor General stated, the 2021 gross expenditure of the OPW was €493 million. In addition to the information on expenditure presented to the committee today in respect of Vote 13, I must point out that the OPW acts as an important delivery agent, undertaking work on behalf of Departments and State agencies. Expenditure on this activity in 2021 amounted to an additional €184 million. This appears as a charge on the accounts of the client organisations.

Exchequer funding to the OPW supports two core programmes of work, that is, flood risk management and estate management, which includes heritage services. Almost €100 million was invested under the flood risk management programme in 2021, reflecting the significant growth in the number of schemes in the design and planning stage leading through to construction in recent years. As part of the OPW multifaceted approach to flood relief, we continue to implement a suite of infrastructural and other measures to mitigate the impact of flooding on people, homes, properties and businesses. More than 300 communities around the country, which are home to approximately 3 million citizens, will benefit from the current investment programme.

An amount of €393 million was invested in estate management in the past accounting year. We have one of the largest, most complex and wide-ranging property portfolios in the State. It includes 2,500 properties that are managed as a shared service for over 80 Government bodies within a very complex working environment.

This responsibility has become all the more essential for the State as the OPW supports the design and delivery of the workplace of the future for the Irish Civil Service.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, both our future and our workplaces will be different, and we are addressing the most urgent issues of climate change and sustainability. The OPW is at the coalface of these issues across its remit. In delivering the workplace of the future we are working with clients to develop more sustainable and innovative accommodation solutions, including a number of notable retrofit projects happening within the OPW portfolio.

In order to carry out its functions, the OPW uses a mix of in-house expertise and outsourced services, contracted through a wide variety of appropriate public procurement channels, including the measured term contract to which the Comptroller and Auditor General's report refers. The procurement of these services is cost-effective, compliant and conducted in a transparent manner and while developing these methods, I am conscious of the ongoing needs to meet the compliance and transparency requirements of the Government. Procuring works through framework contracts often represents the most efficient mechanism for the delivery of maintenance and small works services in particular.

While the demand on the Dublin-based measured term maintenance contract was underestimated when it was established, it nevertheless proved to be essential in delivering on the urgent critical infrastructure needed to prepare Departments and the State for the impact of Brexit. Brexit is an example of the OPW being called upon to carry out essential works for the Government at short notice. The initial request was for facilities at Dublin Airport, Dublin Port and Rosslare Europort. However, what started as nine projects eventually grew to become 28 projects for four Departments. This meant as a country we were prepared for the changes that ensued when the UK left the customs union. While it was not anticipated that the contract would be needed for projects of this scale, it nevertheless ensured essential infrastructure was delivered by more than 60 small and medium-sized subcontractors in labour-intensive works within the required deadlines, while controlling costs and ensuring value for money.

Separately, the appropriation account refers to a significant increase in the value of non-compliance within procurement rules. As referenced, the sum of €18 million refers to regional spend on regional building maintenance works. This procurement process was based on a list system of engaging multiple small and medium-sized enterprise contractors across the nationwide portfolio. Contracts in excess of the advertising threshold of €50,000 were awarded by way of competitive requests for tender. However, this system has since been proven not to be fully compliant with the current rules. In collaboration with the Office of Government Procurement and the local government operational procurement centre, the process of moving to a compliant system of procurement for these contracts is well under way. This will see the level of contracts awarded in this manner reduced by 50% in 2022 and they will continue to fall as contracts are closed out and new procurement frameworks are established.

From a wider perspective, an ongoing programme of procurement compliance improvements is being progressed across all sections of the OPW. A corporate procurement plan for the OPW is now in place and will be implemented under the auspices of a relatively newly-formed procurement advisory unit and an internal procurement network. The OPW, while initially seeing an increase in the non-compliant returns on procurement reported through greater transparency, is now much better placed to deliver procurement compliance into the future, while still achieving the flexibility needed for the work of the OPW. The Office of Government Procurement has engaged in detail with us on this matter and has been of tremendous assistance in our drive towards speedily reducing the level of non-compliance procurements while ensuring our continued ability to deliver for government.

I will update the committee on the latest position in relation to the performance at the convention centre in Dublin. This matter is a relatively complex one and I am still considering legal advice and the position of the parent Department, namely, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media on this matter. I have also decided to seek further advice from EUROSTAT and from the Department of Public and Expenditure and Reform on the options available, before reverting to the Convention Centre Dublin and making a final decision on the matter. I will revert to the committee once a decision has been made by the OPW on this.

I thank my colleagues in the OPW for their work in delivering services as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. I am honoured to work with such a dedicated team in the OPW and I am very proud of the long legacy that the OPW has in delivering services to the Irish people across the country.

I thank the Chairman and the committee members for their time, and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General for its work and recommendations. I welcome any questions.