Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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177. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of recommendations that have been implemented since 2016 in relation to the Capacity and Capability review of the Estate Portfolio Management function carried out from 2014 to 2016. [2709/22]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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In 2014 the Chairman of the OPW commissioned a review to specifically assess the OPW’s Estate Portfolio Management capacity and capability to deliver the Government’s property-related reforms and on the recommendations contained in the Property Asset Management Delivery Plan (PAMDP), 2013.  The Capacity and Capability (C&C) review was one of the recommendations contained in the PAMDP.

The main objectives of the 2014 C&C Review were to:

- ensure that the OPW was delivering property services in this evolving environment in the most efficient and effective manner;

- ensure that the OPW could deliver on the actions in the Property Asset Management Delivery Plan; and

- identify areas where existing resources within the OPW may need to be strengthened, organisational and management structures re-aligned and working methods changed, bearing in mind the ongoing limitations on the overall resources available to the OPW and across the public service.

The recommendations contained in the C&C Review covered areas such as customer engagement, portfolio planning, project management resources, cost reduction, value release strategies, potential service delivery models, charging regimes, service level agreements, organisation models, process review, performance management and expertise, among others.  A Business Transformation Unit was established in 2014 to oversee the change management process, to be determined, arising from the recommendations in the C&C Review. 

Following the extensive consultations on the recommendations that followed, the OPW determined a range of actions to be implemented, to reflect the C&C findings and recommendations in line with the Programme for Government and the actions arising from the PAMDP.  

In that regard, a significant reorganisation and restructuring of the Estate Management area was undertaken to realign structure to project planning and delivery functions.  The following recommendations in the C&C Review were implemented:

- The appointment of a senior manager at Assistant Secretary level to oversee the Estate Management function within the office.  This included a restructuring and re-organisation of the OPW’s activities and functions to support planning and delivery of its capital projects and of its property related commitments. 

- The establishment of a Project Oversight Group, chaired by the Chairman of the OPW, to oversee the management, assignment and implementation of intermediate and major capital projects and programmes of work; together with the establishment of a project pipeline planning process to inform the work of the Oversight Group;

- The reorganisation of the capital project management area into Intermediate and Major projects, with project assignment to these areas dependent on scale and cost of each project; 

- The establishment of a Governance and Evaluation Unit to support senior managers in relation to the requirements of the Public Spending Code;

- The establishment of a Portfolio Planning Unit, made up of additional qualified property personnel to facilitate more in-depth strategic portfolio planning, property option appraisals along with identifying potential opportunities in the market, in consultation with the Property Advisory (Valuation) Services in the OPW;

- A review of the resources in the OPW’s Property Advisory (Valuation) Service in 2017/2018, whereby additional professional Valuers were recruited and a dedicated team assigned to the Dublin area;

- The development of an overall Estate Management Strategyto provide a high level framework for a coordinated planning approach of the functions covered within the Estate Portfolio Management area; and to take account of any future alternative funding models that may arise from the engagement with the NDFA;

- Ongoing engagement with the NDFAto examine the availability of alternative fundingmodels that could provide for greater flexibility in funding opportunities in the market, combined with reinvesting in the portfolio through targeted property disposals;

- The establishment of a property Acquisition and Disposals Committeeto identify potential strategic acquisitions, matched with planned disposals (to re-invest disposal income);

- Strengthened processes relating to structured multi-disciplinary option appraisalsand the completion of business cases on significant acquisition proposals, in line with the Public Spending Code;

- Strengthened sign-off on property acquisitions with an independent verificationof Heads of Terms agreed on leasehold or freehold acquisitions to ensure alignment between the agreed Heads of Terms and the final legal documentation;

- The ongoing implementation of an Integrated Workplace Management System, to consolidate and streamline the range of property-related information held across the organisation.  The property maintenance element of this system is now live and it is expected that end user testing of the property management element will be complete and the system will go live in mid-2022; 

- The hosting of regular Accommodation Workshops with client Departments, in light of the OPW’s intelligent client role, in addition to hosting an Annual Accommodation Officers Network Conference. 

- In parallel with the above, the OPW supports both formal educational and professional development programmes for staff and ensures that experiential learning opportunities are provided, in keeping with HR best practice.

As with all organisations, the reform process in OPW is not a static, point-in-time exercise but an ongoing, evolving process.  The process responds to emerging Government, environmental and market demands as well as the ongoing Civil Service Reform agenda, staff requirements and union agreements.

The reform initiatives in OPW positioned the organisation particularly well in the past 2 years in the context of major delivery programmes around Brexit and the national Covid emergency.