Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 January 2015
40. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when the results of the tender competition for the SICAP will be announced; the reason for the delay in the announcement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3436/15]
View answerMy Department’s Local and Community Development Programme (LCDP) is the largest social inclusion intervention of its kind in the State. The current Programme officially ended at the end of 2013 having operated for four years with funding of €281m over that period. It is being implemented on a transitional basis until March 2015, pending the roll out of the new Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) in April 2015. All groups who received LCDP funding in 2014 are being funded through LCDP interim arrangements until 31 March 2015, pending the outcome of the SICAP competitive process.
In accordance with the Public Spending Code, legal advice, good practice internationally and in order to ensure the optimum delivery of services to clients, SICAP is subject to a public procurement process, which is currently underway. Stage one (Expression of Interest) has been completed. Stage two (Invitation to Tender), commenced on 20 October 2014 and involved the successful applicants from stage one being invited to apply to one or more Local Community Development Committees, in local authority areas, to deliver the programme. The closing date for receipt of tenders under stage two was noon on 19 December 2014. The tenders received are currently being evaluated and it is intended that tenderers will be informed of the outcome by mid February.
