Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 September 2021
274. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education the extent to which various school building projects throughout the country have been able to progress throughout the Covid-19 downturn; the locations of any particular difficulties in this regard; the proposed or ongoing action to address such issues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45888/21]
View answerMy Department has a large-scale and ambitious roll-out of school building projects under the National Development Plan and as part of Project Ireland 2040. The continuation of construction work on school building projects during lockdown period in early 2021 was an important enabler to facilitating the delivery of our school building programme.
During the NDP period 2018-2020, there were 526 completed building projects under the Large Scale Capital Programme (LSCP) and the Additional School Accommodation Scheme (ASA). These projects delivered in excess of 48,000 school places, including permanent accommodation for 229 special classes; and additional capacity for 67 classrooms in 14 special schools throughout the country. There are also currently some 250 school building projects on site many of which will be completed in 2022.
My Department is aware of the challenges of Covid and the challenging market conditions currently underway and is working proactively to ensure that all school building contracts are awarded as expeditiously as possible, while working within the parameters set by the Office of Government Procurement and principles of public procurement set out at both national and EU level.
My Department works closely with design teams on school projects to permit reasonable additional time for tenderers to submit tenders, allowing them ample time to price appropriately given the current market.
Where the tender closing date has already passed, and the lowest tenderer advises the Department that they can no longer stand over their tender and are withdrawing from the tender process, the design team are authorised to proceed to processing the next lowest tender until such point as a tenderer agrees to stand over their tender thus ensuring the progression of all projects in the pipeline.
Once contracts are awarded, any variations to the contract sum must be addressed within the standard provisions of the Public Works Contracts.
