Ireland’s Grangegorman DIT Campus Procurement Begins

Ireland’s National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) has today published an Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) notice inviting tenders for work on the proposed Dublin Institute of Technology campus at Grangegorman in central Dublin.

The deadline for submission of pre-qualification submissions is 16 December 2013. Construction is due to begin in 2015 and upon completion in 2017 the new facility, comprising a total gross internal floor area of approximately 50,000m2, will accommodate 10,000 students.

The NDFA is responsible for delivering €650 million of Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects as part of the Infrastructure Stimulus Programme announced by the Irish Government in July 2012. These projects comprise the Grangegorman DIT campus, schools, primary healthcare centres, courthouses and divisional police headquarters.

The NDFA is both the procuring body for and on behalf of the Minister for Education & Skills and the financial adviser for the Grangegorman DIT campus project. The Sanctioning Authority is the Department of Education and Skills and the Grangegorman Development Agency is the Sponsoring Agency.

The Prior Information Notice (PIN) for the Grangegorman DIT campus project was published in the OJEU on 29 August 2013 and a market information day was held on 9 September 2013.

The NDFA has awarded the contract for Multi-Disciplinary Technical Advisory Services on the project to Healy Kelly Turner & Townsend. The Technical Adviser team also includes sub-consultants J.V. Tierney (Mechanical & Electrical Engineering), Mullarkey Pedersen (Architects), Malone O’Regan (Civil & Structural Engineering) and Sheppard Robson (Architects). Eversheds is legal adviser for the project and Willis Risk Services (Ireland) Ltd. is the project’s insurance adviser.

Editors’ Notes

• The National Development Finance Agency is the statutory financial advisor to State authorities in respect of all public investment projects with a capital value over €20 million. It also has full responsibility for the procurement and delivery of Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in sectors other than transport and the local authorities. The NDFA performs its functions through the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA).
• The Irish Government’s total stimulus package amounts to €2.25 billion, of which phase one, the proposed PPP pipeline, amounts to €1.4 billion. This is spread over four sectors: Education, Health, Justice and Transport.
• The NDFA will be responsible for procuring 3 Education PPPs, up to 2 Health PPPs and 3 Justice PPPs. Estimated capex for these is c. €650m. The National Roads Authority (NRA) will be responsible for procuring the various Road PPPs, amounting to c. €750m, with NDFA as financial advisor.
• In its financial advisory role, the NDFA advises State Authorities on the optimal financing of priority public investment projects by applying commercial standards in evaluating financial risks and costs. The NDFA’s overriding objective is to maximise value for money for the Exchequer.
• In its procurement role, the NDFA is responsible for all aspects of delivering the procurement of projects and hands them over to the sponsoring body after construction is complete and the asset is operational.