Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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993. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding stage two of the social inclusion and community activation programme; his views on the revised plan to implement the programme; if he will provide a timeframe for continuation of this programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41090/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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My Department’s Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) is the largest social inclusion intervention of its kind in the State. The current Programme officially ended at the end of 2013 having operated for four years with funding of €281m over that period.  It is being implemented on a transitional basis for 2014 with a budget of €47m pending the roll out of the new Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) in April 2015.

The SICAP is one of the key priorities of Government and its overall indicative budget for 2015 has been maintained close to 2014 levels.

In accordance with the Public Spending Code, legal advice, good practice internationally and in order to ensure the optimum delivery of services to clients, SICAP is subject to a public procurement process, which is currently underway.  Stage one (Expression of Interest) has been completed. Stage two (Invitation to Tender), commenced on 20 October 2014 and involves the successful applicants from Stage one being invited to apply to one or more Local Community Development Committees, in l ocal a uthority areas, to deliver the programme. Contracts for SICAP will be determined following the outcome of the procurement process. The envisaged timeframe for SICAP is set out in the table below.

Invitation to Tender: Indicative timeframes