Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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505. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the status of the tendering process of 23 Dublin Bus Routes and five Bus Éireann routes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40601/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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​It is the responsibility of the National Transport Authority (NTA) to conduct the current public procurement processes relating to the tendering out of 10% of the PSO bus network. NTA is undertaking this by way of three separate competitions and has now completed the pre-qualification phase of each, and candidates have been informed. The NTA has issued formal invitations to tender in respect of the Dublin Metropolitan competition and tenders are due by end-January 2017. It is planned that documentation for the other two competitions - Dublin commuter and Waterford - will issue before the end of the year, with proposals to be evaluated during Quarter 1 2017.

Anticipating the timeline to complete the competitions is not straightforward; however, I am told that, at this stage, it is expected that contracts will be awarded in mid-2017 with services coming into operation in late 2017 and during 2018. Each competition can commence services independently of the other two.

The tendering processes underway should allow the NTA to capture potential benefits as regards value for money in terms of the use of taxpayers' money in securing the provision of public services, and I look forward to the NTA's successful progression of all three competitions.