Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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163. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will provide a full progress report on the 520 new social housing homes for Dublin that are to be developed through the five PPP programmes announced in October 2015; the funding model that is being used to deliver these homes; the reason the individual councils will not be managing and maintaining the units; the persons or body that will own the units at the end of the 25-year lease period; the total cost per unit over the 25 years; and the way this cost compares to the standard capital up-front cost of standard social housing. [12328/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Social Housing PPP programme provides for an investment with a capital value of €300 million and is expected to deliver 1,500 social housing units in total, via three bundles. The first bundle, comprising six PPP sites providing for over 500 units in the greater Dublin area, is being developed in co-operation with the local authorities concerned. Two of the sites are located in Dublin City, with one each in South Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Louth. Dublin City Council has been appointed to act as the lead local authority for the delivery of the social housing PPP Programme in respect of this first bundle. It is expected that the process of seeking planning approval for the first bundle will commence within the coming month.

The winning tender for the project will be selected via an advertised tender competition in accordance with EU and national procurement regulations. The procurement process is being led by the National Development Finance Agency. Tenders will be evaluated against pre-defined award criteria which will be a combination of price and qualitative factors such as the quality of design, construction and facilities management services. The criteria will be published with the tender documents. These documents are currently being finalised and are expected to be published in the coming months.

The programme will use what is termed an 'availability-based' PPP model, in which a private sector company designs, builds, finances and maintains the social housing units over a 25 year period in return for a monthly 'unitary payment'. The 'availability based' model being applied has been used successfully in Ireland to deliver roads, schools and courthouses. The housing units are handed back to the local authority after 25 years in a predefined, good quality condition. The sites remain in State ownership for the entire period.

The relevant local authorities will retain responsibility for tenant nomination and allocation of units during the contract period. Tenants allocated to PPP units will be drawn from the local authority social housing waiting list in accordance with that local authority's allocation scheme. The tenants will be subject to standard arrangements as apply to other social housing allocations, including in respect of the charging of differential rent.

The amount of the unitary payment is a bid item in the selection of the preferred tender. This means that when a bidder tenders for the PPP project, the level of monthly payment is considered in assessing the competing tenders. This is to ensure that the State receives value for money. The unitary payments commence once construction is complete and the units are ready to house tenants.

The Central PPP Unit in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform provides guidance in relation to PPP projects. It sets out four specific value for money, or VFM, tests that are applied in the case of PPPs over the course of the planning and procurement process. These tests focus on assessing whether or not the PPP approach compares favourably with the alternative cost of using traditional procurement to achieve the same result. The purpose, sequence and format of the four VFM tests in the PPP approval process are set out clearly in the central PPP guidance.

The National Development Finance Agency prepared a Provisional PPP Assessment Report in 2014 on behalf of the Department of Finance, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and my Department. This report constituted a qualitative PPP assessment as the first of the four VFM tests that are required for all PPP projects. The other VFM tests are being undertaken as part of the process of assessment and planning involved in the further development of the bundles of sites identified for the programme.

The next VFM test involves preparation of the Public Sector Benchmark. This presents the calculated costs of undertaking the project through the traditional model of delivering social housing, and is currently being prepared. This cost will then be compared against the successful tender in the PPP competition. If the PPP tender cost is less than the cost of undertaking the project through traditional means, then it is considered that the project is 'Value for Money' and the contract may be awarded.