Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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108. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost in relation to the operation of the various competitive tendering models or public procurement models used in education to build schools at both primary and secondary level since 2008, that is, the costs involved in selecting a winner to build schools not the actual cost of the building; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49214/18]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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There are two methods of tendering (the Restricted procedure and the Open procedure) for the appointment of main building contractors on school building projects.

For less complex projects of a small to medium scale, the open procedure is generally used and all contractors meeting the minimum standards are entitled to submit a tender (thus facilitating the inclusion of small to medium enterprises and those with no experience in educational projects).

For larger or more complex projects, where it is considered that pre-qualification of contractors is warranted, the Restricted procedure is normally used. In the Restricted procedure, there is an intermediary qualification stage during which the numbers of applicants is reduced (or restricted) to a specified amount (normally 8 - 10).

For my Departments “Rapid” programme the pre-qualification stage involves tendering for a framework of Contractors to which individual projects are then tendered.

The costs of the tender process (Stage 3 of my Departments Design Team Procedures) vary from project to project but are primarily determined by the design team fees tendered by the design team or project management team at the time of their appointment.

As a guide, the following information on tender competitions for four recent representative projects has been compiled for the Deputy’s information. Schools A and B were delivered under the Traditional Architectural Planning model. Schools C and D were delivered as part of the "Rapid" programme.