Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 16 January 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

National Children’s Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board

Mr. Tom Costello:

That is the nature of the two-stage process. The design was at a preliminary stage when we went to tender. That is the way a two-stage tender works. One brings in the contractors for their expertise rather than bringing them in when the entire thing is designed and then for the next five years the contractors seek to dismantle, in essence, and create opportunities for themselves. In this case the contractor has worked collaboratively with the design team to finalise the design. Yes, it is right to say the quantum of cables, taking that as an example, was not known until the full design was done. I mentioned earlier it is 5,500 km of cables. That is the quantum involved.