As Minister for Public Expenditure; National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, my Department is responsible for the Public Spending Code (PSC), which sets the value for money requirements and guidance for evaluating, planning and managing Exchequer-funded capital projects. Management and delivery of investment projects and public services within allocation and the national frameworks is a key responsibility of every Department, Accounting Officer and Minister.
In March this year, I informed Government of a package of significant actions aimed at enhancing project delivery for the National Development Plan (NDP). The actions include significant changes to reduce the administrative burden for Departments and public bodies developing capital projects. One of these specific changes was the general threshold for major projects increasing from €100m to €200m. These thresholds will be reviewed every 3 years to ensure they are still appropriate.
This will mean for projects with an estimated cost of less that €200m, departments will no longer be required to engage with the EAP or to submit these projects to my Department for technical review. As required within the Public Spending Code, the relevant Approving Authority must carry out a technical review of project proposals issued to them by their Sponsoring Agencies and it is the responsibility of the Accounting Officer to ensure these reviews ensure compliance with the requirements of the Code.
It is the responsibility of the relevant Accounting Officer to ensure that procedures are in place to ensure full compliance with the Public Spending Code within their Department/Office and within the bodies under the aegis of the Department, including drawing up sector-specific procedures, in line with the requirements of the Public Spending Code (or the Infrastructure Guidelines when published), for management and appraisal of capital projects and programmes as appropriate. Government departments, as Approving Authorities, are to carry out assessments of proposals at each stage of the project lifecycle focussing on:
- Compliance with the Public Spending Code;
- Compliance with sector-specific appraisal guidance; and
- Appropriate policy and programme fit.
Further appraisal guidance will be published shortly, known as the Infrastructure Guidelines, as part of capital project development, which will replace the existing Public Spending Code.
