Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Under the public spending code, before any tender process is run, the relevant procuring Department must first undertake a project appraisal to help inform whether the project should be approved to proceed to procurement or not. At that stage, my Department is involved in conducting a technical review of the cost benefit analysis undertaken by the line Department. In this case it is the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. It reviews the methodology and compliance with the requirements of the public spending code in advance of any decision being taken by the line Department on whether to proceed to procurement or tender stage.

The public spending code further requires that the project appraisal is continually updated as the procurement process evolves and as actual tender costs, as opposed to cost estimates, become available. My Department may be consulted to review technically the updated cost benefit analysis. That is the case with major projects such as the tender for the national broadband plan. While my Department is not involved in the assessment of the tenders for individual projects, if it emerges that the cost of a project is not capable of being met within the agreed multi-annual capital allocation of the procuring Department, then that Department should engage with my Department to explore how to proceed with the project. That is what is happening now with the national broadband plan process.

In addition, the Office of Government Procurement was represented in an advisory role on the procurement board for this project. The primary aim of this board is to independently review the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment's oversight of the evaluation stages of the procurement process but has no decision making or due diligence role in the procurement process. That is a matter for the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment.

See this speech in context