Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

As I have stated in reply to another parliamentary question on this matter today, a request for tenders for a full design team to develop new children's facilities at Lusk was published on the eTenders website in June 2002. Eleven bids were received but the evaluation team informed the IYJS that there were difficulties with the tendering process. It was decided at that point to terminate the process. The Office of Public Works has now taken on the role of the design team, which will allow for some savings. It will work on the design element of the project, after which it will be put out to tender. The process began with tendering for a design team and the next step is to tender for construction. As I said, the OPW has taken over that role and we are safe in terms of the general procurement issues.

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