50. Deputy Martin Daly asked the Minister for Education and Youth the procurement and governance arrangements that apply to major school capital projects and the safeguards in place to ensure transparency, competition, and value-for-money. [54048/26]

My department’s procurement and governance arrangements are designed to ensure transparency, competition, and value for money throughout the delivery of the school building programme. Major school capital projects are procured and delivered in accordance with procedures, technical guidance and design guidance published by the Department of Education and Youth, as well as the Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF), the Infrastructure Guidelines and Irish and EU public procurement legislation.

Arrangements and key safeguards to ensure transparency and competition include:

• Public advertising of all major school capital contracts on eTenders and the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU)/TED (where the estimated contract value exceeds the relevant EU thresholds)

• The use of standardised procurement documentation, procedures, and evaluation methodologies.

• The inclusion of objective selection and award criteria within tender competitions.

• Conflict of interest controls and procedures throughout procurement processes.

• The award of design consultant appointments and school building construction contracts based on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT).

Arrangements and key safeguards to ensure achieving value for money include:

• Application of cost and floor area norms for schools

• The use of standardised layouts and specifications across the school building programme

• Standardised procedures for the procurement and construction of all major school capital projects which aligns with the Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF) and complies with Irish and EU public procurement legislation

• An extensive suite of technical guidance documents which assist in controlling project scope and project costs.

• Framework agreements which support the efficient delivery of the school building programme as part of the Department's overall procurement strategy

• Robust stage approval and review processes throughout the project lifecycle which challenge project scope, design solutions, specifications, and cost assumptions before projects progress to the next stage.