Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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799. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide a list of all external assurance process reviews tendered for to date; the value of the contract; and the name of the successful company, in tabular form. [24508/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In 2021, Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (D/PENDPDR) Circular 25/2021 introduced the External Assurance Process (EAP) making it a mandatory requirement for Exchequer-funded projects with an estimated capital cost in excess of €100 million. The independent scrutiny processes for major capital projects was established to ensure appropriate project preparation, to further strengthen project management, and ultimately improve project outcomes.

For the External Assurance Process, D/PENDPDR established a single lot, multi-supplier framework from which funding Departments can source the independent reviewers to conduct the reviews.

In March 2023, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan (NDP) Delivery and Reform informed Government of changes to the capital appraisal guidelines as part of package of significant actions aimed at enhancing delivery of the NDP. Among other things, this increased the thresholds for the classification of major projects at which full Public Spending Code (PSC) scrutiny is required and reduced the number of steps for proposals to travel through before approval to proceed.

The EAP remains a requirement for major projects in excess of €200 million, at Decision Gate 1 - Approval in Principle of the updated PSC, prior to seeking Government consent following the approval of the Approving Authority.

Two EAP reviews have been tendered to date by the Department of Health (details below):