Robbie Butler: ...that the legal position had changed and that a full suite of remedial works should be pursued. As a result, the Assembly Commission is now moving to appoint contractors under a construction and procurement delivery framework to undertake repairs, prevent any further deterioration and ensure the health and safety of all Building users. Those repairs will address the issues that relate to...
Nuala McAllister: ...office is outdated. So, as part of the ongoing discussions in the new Assembly Commission, we will be looking at a wide range of requirements and at whether it may be better to allow Members to procure their own constituency office print capability. I understand that the delay until November 2024 may not satisfy the Member. However, if we do change things in the new Assembly Commission,...
Alan Chambers: ...to many other vaccines and why the flexibilities being discussed need to be extended. Although progress is being made all the time, the vaccines that we use for the COVID-19 programme, which are procured on a UK-wide basis for the four nations, are still only available in a physical manner that requires these extensions to be in place. Of course, today's debate is only happening because...
David Honeyford: ..., as do Diane Dodds and Cathal Boylan, who are all here. We argued and debated about what one of the first investigations should be for the Auditor General, and that was to look at a public procurement. The fact that those new MOT centres have not opened highlights a potential major procurement issue. We have spent millions on new test centres, and we have not got them. Those centres have...
Naomi Long: That is a really important issue. I am pleased to inform the Assembly that the independent referee assessment process recommenced on 4 March 2024. Moreover, the Department is in the final stages of procurement with a supplier for further resource to carry out that function so that we can resolve the backlog. We are hopeful that we will be able to get started on that soon.
John O'Dowd: ...accommodation works with them. That will start soon. It is a challenging footway scheme, and its delivery is subject to completion of the detailed design, achieving funding and land and a separate procurement process.
Deborah Erskine: I really welcome the A4, and I hope that progress will now ensue. My question is about the Northern Ireland Audit Office report and the issues that it raised around procurement and the delivery of key infrastructure projects. Can the Minister ensure that the A4 southern bypass will be delivered on time so that there will be no further delay to the scheme?
Robin Swann: I thank the Member for his question. I refer back to my response to Miss McAllister's question about when the contract and procurement were actually paused. Those decisions were taken without ministerial input. What has happened today shows the advantage that this place has: when concerns are raised in the House, Ministers can intervene and implement what needs to be done. We can also take...
John O'Dowd: ...we seek to encourage people to move to more sustainable transport options. At the same time, we must seek to reduce the emissions from our rolling stock as part of that process. A first step is the procurement of a new Enterprise fleet that will operate on battery and electric power. Members will be aware, however, that, given the many competing budget priorities that my Department faces,...
Sorcha Eastwood: I ask the Minister for an update on the implementation of the recommendations of the Northern Ireland Audit Office report on public procurement in Northern Ireland, with particular reference to the reforms that were made to the Procurement Board in 2020.
Andrew Muir: ...on the environmental and technical studies that are needed to inform the outline business case for the harbour development works at Kilkeel and Ardglass. In the coming weeks, Construction and Procurement Delivery (CPD) will advertise the invitation to tender for integrated consultant teams to progress those studies. In addition, my Department supported the Northern Ireland Fishery Harbour...
John O'Dowd: ...not only opportunities but challenges for the environment — we can do things to improve the local environment. That is a really exciting part of the project. Funding for the scheme will now allow procurement to commence — Deborah asked about this — in April 2024, and the ability for the Department to meet that timescale means that the seasonal windows for earthworks, as well as works...
Paul Givan: ...to ongoing discussions on the agreement of a future approved enrolment for the school, it was agreed with the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) that the project would not progress to procurement until those matters were resolved.
Robbie Butler: ...period products is poverty. It was not necessarily its purpose, but the Bill will, in a small way, tackle poverty. It will keep money in the pockets of some people who were not previously able to procure period products because they did not have enough money and who perhaps at the moment are having to choose from heating, eating, period products and all the other essential things in life....
Robin Swann: ...the necessary technology. That will require research and scoping; an equality assessment; consultation with all stakeholders; preparation of a business case and securing the necessary funding; a procurement exercise; a programme of installation for the infrastructure across all sites; recruitment of personnel as necessary for each site to operate the verification arrangements;...
Nichola Mallon: We hope to be able to move to full procurement and construction. Of course, that is dependent on the funding that comes across in the forthcoming financial year. On the issue of active travel, when we look at bypasses, it is very important that we do not just look at them in the very narrow sense of building a road away from a town. It is really important that we breathe life into those towns...
Nichola Mallon: The interim asphalt resurfacing procurement strategy consists of four phases of fixed-term contracts, as well as a number of larger one-off contract packages. The first phase of term contracts, with a total maximum estimated value of over £35 million over the next two years, was released for tender on 19 November 2021. Tenders have been received and are being assessed. The development of the...
Michelle McIlveen: ...take some time to come to fruition, but, as of today, work will be done alongside the schools. An intensive piece of work will be required to get a business plan in place and to deliver design and procurement, so we are probably talking about a lead-in time of between six and eight years. Today is really the first day, but it is vital that we make this announcement to ensure that there is...
Jim Wells: ...have been cheaper to hire a member of staff to come in once a month to manually type out the certificates for the tiny number of people who wanted that to happen. £261,000. Was there any form of procurement or tender exercise? Or was the company — we all know which company it is — just told, "Think of a figure, go in there and spend whatever you like to produce that particular change...
Edwin Poots: ...materials. Consequently, some projects now face costs that are significantly higher than those in the approved business case or, indeed, the tendered costs. The Department of Finance introduced a procurement advice notice to provide a remedy for contractors who have been subject to significant and unforeseen cost increases. That has been applied to projects across the capital programme,...