Dodds welcomes accelerated procurement flexibility

Finance Minister Nigel Dodds, has said that his Department will look at ways of shortening the time it takes for procurement projects to be awarded to a successful tenderer.

He has directed the civil service purchasing arm, Central Procurement Directorate (CPD), to consider the implications of a European Commission (EC) decision on tendering regulations.

The EC has decided that the time taken to award contracts under the restricted procedure can be reduced from 87 to 30 days for major procurements as a way of helping to boost the economy.

Minister Dodds welcomed the move and highlighted that he was keen to see Northern Ireland firms obtain maximum benefit from this provision. He said: "I want to make sure that we use every possible mechanism open to us to counter the effects of the current economic situation and I believe that faster tendering for major public projects can help in this regard.

“This is why I have asked CPD to urgently look at how the accelerated procedure could best be applied in practice, to ensure local firms and communities can derive maximum benefit from this relaxation.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The accelerated procedures applies to major public procurements awarded under the restricted procedure ie those valued over £90,000 for supplies and services and over £3.5million for construction. The restricted procedure involves two stages, one to select suppliers to tender and one to evaluate tenders and award the contract.
2. Within existing procurement directives there is a provision for the use of an accelerated procurement procedure on grounds of exceptional circumstances. The severe economic downturn is considered to constitute grounds for urgency and the EC has decided that this will apply throughout 2009 and 2010.
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