22 May 2013, 14:14
The OPW Appropriation Account for 2011 is on the agenda as well as Chapter 14 of the C&AG Annual Report, Measuring Procurement Performance will be on the agenda of the Committee of Public Accounts when it meets with The Accounting Officer of the Office of Public Works, Ms Clare McGrath tomorrow, Thursday 23rd May 2013.
Committee Chairman John McGuinness TD said: “The accounts of the Office of Public Works will be the focus of our Committee meeting tomorrow. The OPW is the agency with responsibility for property maintenance, property management, architectural and engineering services, heritage services, project management and procurement services for the State.
Among the issues which may be of interest to the Committee are:
• The National Convention Centre for which capital cost of the PPP project is accounted for through the OPW Vote and whether targets set for delegate numbers and so on are being met.
• The closure of Garda stations, plans for their disposal and associated costs.
• Decentralisation and the current position on disposing or otherwise using sites procured by OPW for the decentralisation project.
• OPW’s functions in regards to the management of the leases which they hold such as vacant space, leases surrendered and current costs.
• The Committee could also examine OPW’s heritage services such as visitor numbers and strategies in operation to encourage visitors.
The work of the National Procurement Service, which is part of OPW, will also be considered at our meeting tomorrow. The NPS was set up in 2009 in order to obtain savings on public procurement through the use of framework agreements, the use of e-procurement and providing advice on procurement issues to Government bodies. Projected savings to be achieved in 2012 were €78 million in respect of 48 framework contracts and the Committee will be interested in looking at this in more detail.”
This meeting will take place in Committee Room 1 at 10am tomorrow, Thursday, 23rd May 2013.
Committee proceedings can be followed live at: http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/watchlisten/
For further information please contact:
Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 3903
M: 086-0496518
F: +3531 618 4551
Committee of Public Accounts Membership
John McGuinness (Chairman)
Kieran O’Donnell (Vice Chairman)
Paul J Connaughton,
John Deasy,
Paschal Donohoe,
Gerald Nash,
Simon Harris,
Michael McCarthy,
Mary Lou McDonald,
Sean Fleming,
Eoghan Murphy,
Derek Nolan,
Shane Ross.