John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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172. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of State contracts awarded in the past ten years for the provision of broadband and telecommunications projects; the value of each contract and the name of the successful bidder; the details of the level of Government oversight in each project; if this oversight extended to main subcontractors involved in delivering each project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10994/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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In November 2019, my Department signed a contract with National Broadband Ireland, in respect of the National Broadband Plan State intervention.

Name of Project: National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led intervention contract in respect of the rollout of the high-speed broadband network under the State intervention.

Value of the contract: Maximum possible cost to the State will be €2.7 Billion over 25 years

Name of the successful bidder: National Broadband Ireland (NBI). 3009 Lake Drive, Citywest, D24 H6RR

To protect the State's investment and ensure that the NBP milestones and deliverables are met, the contract has been designed to include extensive protections, quality checks, together with comprehensive reporting and monitoring obligations.

My Department, as the contracting authority, manages all of the elements of contract governance. My Department has a core team of civil servants and seconded experts, which is augmented by specialist external services to effectively manage the contract. These include technical, commercial advisory, business process and legal services.

A governance structure has been established within my Department to monitor contract compliance and includes the NBP Senior Management Team and a number of NBI Engagement Groups.