The Minister for Finance, Mr Brian Cowen, T.D., today announced the publication of detailed legislation to place the Centre of Expertise for Public Private Partnership (PPP) procurement, already established in the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA), on a statutory footing.

The Government established a Centre of Expertise for PPP procurement in the NDFA in 2005 to facilitate the procurement of PPP projects funded directly from the Exchequer and it has operated on an interim non-statutory basis since then. The enactment of the new National Development Finance Agency (Amendment) Bill 2006 will permit the Agency to fulfil all its new responsibilities in PPP procurement, including the signing of contracts in the New Year.

The legislation will be considered by the Seanad in the coming weeks.

The legislation formally allocates the new procurement function to the Agency by giving it the power to enter into PPPs with a view to transferring them to the relevant State authorities, or to act as agent for State authorities in regard to PPP procurement. It also provides for the appointment of three additional Board Members, two of whom have been already appointed on an interim non-statutory basis. A third is provided for to facilitate the Government’s commitment under “Towards 2016” to consider appointing a trade union representative to the Board of NDFA.

The Minister said: “procuring major capital investment projects through Public Private Partnerships is making a positive impact on the State’s infrastructure investment programme through the delivery of projects, such as the recently opened Rathcormac / Fermoy bypass – delivered well ahead of the target completion date”.

The Minister expects that the Centre of Expertise for procuring PPP projects will enhance the public sector’s capacity to use the PPP option across a range of key sectors.

ENDS

Note for Editors:

·        The Centre of Expertise will consolidate the core skills and capacity required to support complex PPP procurements. As with other specialist agencies, such as the National Roads Authority and the Railway Procurement Agency, the Centre of Expertise will retain all of the knowledge and experience gained in PPP procurement in one central body and PPP-related expertise will not be as dispersed as it has been in the past.

·        Sponsoring Departments/Agencies will remain responsible for the selection of PPP projects and for project budgets. They will also be responsible for addressing all project-related policy issues.

·        There is a clear distinction between the project selection / development phase (the primary responsibility of the Sponsoring Department/Agency) and the procurement / delivery phase (the responsibility of the Centre of Expertise).

·        When a project is approved by a Sponsoring Department/Agency, it will then be handed over to the Centre of Expertise. The Centre of Expertise will then assume responsibility for procuring the project within the parameters set by the Sponsoring Department/Agency. Responsibility for the project will be handed back to the Sponsoring Department/Agency after construction is completed, i.e. the Sponsoring Department/Agency will be responsible for the operation period of the PPP contract.

·        The NDFA will still retain its existing advisory role in relation to the earlier stages of the process and will provide any necessary technical expertise to help Departments agree project budgets, etc.

·        The Centre of Expertise in the NDFA will not take over functions of existing specialised agencies, such as the National Roads Authority or the Railway Procurement Agency, or the local authorities in the environment area – the existing arrangements will continue to apply in these cases.

·        The Centre of Expertise has been operating in the National Development Finance Agency on an interim, non-statutory basis pending the enactment of the National Development Finance Agency (Amendment) Act 2006. The Annual Report of the Agency (available on www.ndfa.ie) sets out the very significant work already undertaken in its new role.