Government announces actions to enhance the delivery of NDP projects

The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, has announced a package of significant actions to enhance project delivery for the National Development Plan (NDP). The actions include significant changes to reduce the administrative burden in delivering major capital projects.

Public Spending Code

Under the reforms, the Public Spending Code, which sets out the approvals process for new projects, will be replaced by a set of Infrastructure Guidelines. The effect of this will be to reduce the number of approval stages prior to the implementation of projects from five to three.

MAJOR PROJECTS COST THRESHOLD RAISED TO €200M

The level of cost at which a new proposal is considered a major project is also raised from €100m to €200m. This will allow projects below this limit to proceed more speedily through the appraisal and evaluation process compared to those of greater scale and complexity.

This will allow departments that are responsible, greater freedom to pursue the delivery of their priority projects.

Further changes include additional reforms to the Capital Works Management Framework, which sets out the contracts used for public capital projects.

Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board

Minister Donohoe will also take a direct role in overseeing the delivery of the NDP by chairing the Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board, which will meet on a quarterly basis. Capacity reviews of departments and agencies with significant delivery programmes will be carried out, where appropriate, to ensure that adequate resources for project delivery are in place.

Direct reporting to the government on NDP delivery quarterly throughout 2023 and 2024 will now also take place.

Finally, an independent evaluation of NDP priorities and capacity will be conducted over the coming months.

Commenting on the actions to enhance NDP delivery, Minister Donohoe said, “The government’s €165bn investment through the NDP is already providing homes, schools, and primary healthcare centres across the country. However, no one is any doubt that we need to ensure timely delivery is part of the government’s focus to respond effectively to the pressing challenges of our time, particularly in areas like housing, health and climate.”

Industry Reaction

Paul Sheridan, Director of Main Contracting, Construction Industry Federation (CIF), speaking on behalf of the CIF, welcomed the announcement. “The industry needs a visible pipeline of work to support investment in innovation and talent,” Paul Sheridan commented. “It is critical that the NDP processes under the administrative control of the government are resourced effectively to speed up the commencement of the construction phase on projects, and there are equitable price variation clauses and fair balancing of risk. This will support the construction of the necessary infrastructure to support Housing for All and climate action.”

National Development Plan Actions

The following priority actions have been identified for 2023 to support and improve delivery under the NDP, including:

• Action 1: The Public Spending Code will be replaced by a set of Infrastructure Guidelines. The level of cost at which a new proposal is considered a major project is raised from €100m to €200m, and major projects will be subject to review by the Department of Public Expenditure NDP Delivery and Reform (PENDR) and Major Projects Advisory Group (MPAG) at the preliminary business case stage only. All major projects will go to the Cabinet for approval.

• Action 2: The Capital Works Management Framework will continue to work on rebalancing risk in the Public Works Contract while maintaining expenditure control. The focus on lifecycle costs in tender documentation as opposed to construction costs will allow public clients to focus on quality over cheapest bid. Action 3: The Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board will be reconstituted and be chaired by the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, and comprise the existing independent members and key secretaries general.

• Action 4: Review of capacity in major departments and agencies to deliver on NDP priorities with a particular focus on significant capital projects to ensure appropriate resourcing to assist delivery.

• Action 5: An independent mid-term evaluation of investment priorities and capacity of the NDP, focusing on the capacity to deliver current government priorities to utilise sectoral capital allocations and to estimate the impact of the NDP on key economic indicators.

• Action 6: Reporting to the government on NDP delivery throughout 2023 and 2024 will take place on a quarterly basis.