Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The cost of the contract with Capita, which was awarded a ten year licence to develop and maintain the post code system, is €27 million excluding VAT or €33.2 million including VAT. This position has not changed since I last reported on the cost of the contract and covers the design of the Eircode, encoding public sector databases, accessing the GeoDirectory database, the launch and implementation of Eircodes and the ongoing management of the system for the licence period.

The total spend to date on the post codes project amounts to €19.5 million, including VAT. Of this, Capita has been paid €17.5 million on foot of delivery of agreed milestones. The bulk of this figure, €11.5 million, was spent on encoding public sector bodies' databases. Apart from payments to Capita, €2 million has been spent on specialist costs arising in the period from 2009 to date.

My Department commenced the procurement process for the national postcode system in 2011. An open and competitive procurement process was conducted in accordance with Department of Finance and European Union procurement frameworks. My Department received correspondence from the European Commission in 2012 regarding certain aspects of the procurement process. In 2013, the Commission informed the Department that the matter had been closed on the basis that it could not establish any breach of EU procurement law that would justify the opening of an infringement procedure.

Subsequently, the Commission requested that certain measures be adopted by Ireland regarding the clarity of language to be used in future procurements. My Department responded to this request after consulting the Office of Government Procurement. In recent correspondence, the Commission confirmed that there are no grounds for reopening an investigation into this matter, which it now regards as closed.

See this speech in context