Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 84: To ask the Minister for Finance if the promised peer review system for large ICT projects is in place; the way in which same will operate; the threshold of figure above which the peer review system will operate; if the centre for management organisation development within his Department will play a role in the peer review; the number of such projects that have been submitted to peer review to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12385/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The centre for management and organisation development, CMOD, in my Department developed procedures for the peer review process and agreed these in meetings with other Departments and offices late last year and the formal peer review process is now operational.

The peer review is carried out at key decision points, preliminary business case assessment, detailed assessment, pre-tender, post-tender, and project close-out, by a team of experienced people external to the project board and the organisation. The process particularly focuses on examining the preparation of good business cases; cost benefit analysis; affordability within the approved budget for the organisation; detailed planning; and the governance arrangements etc. Peer review teams are selected by the sponsoring Department or office of each project subjected to the process, and these selections are subject to agreement with CMOD. Review teams include people with relevant experience and these people can be drawn from both the public and private sector.

However, while I believe that the peer review process is a very worthwhile initiative and is an additional safeguard in the development and implementation of IT projects, it does not in any way override the accountability arrangement in place within organisations. It is envisaged that reviews will be carried out for all projects where the development and roll-out costs exceed €5 million or where the project would be likely to stretch the resources of the sponsoring Department or agency.

As well as developing and agreeing the process with other Departments and offices, CMOD is co-ordinating, administering and controlling the peer review process across the public service which includes: providing a panel of peer reviewers to sponsoring organisations; selecting the number and type of projects to be peer reviewed; agreeing the composition of peer review teams; considering the peer review team's findings and the sponsoring organisation's consideration of these findings for each stage of the peer review process before making and issuing any final decision to proceed or halt; developing a website in the future where review findings will be placed in the public domain.

To date four projects have been submitted to peer review and these include: the Department of Foreign Affairs system to include biometrics in passports which commenced in January 2006; the Health Service Executive hospital inpatient service programme, HISP, which commenced in January 2006; the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform Schengen information system which commenced in March 2006 and; the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform's automated fingerprint identification system which commenced in March 2006.