Capital Investment and Procurement highlights

Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independents have published a Draft Programme for Government that commits to a plan for investment and reform in Ireland over the next five years.

Continued investment in capital infrastructure is a key theme. There are a number of high-level objectives to note:

• There will be continued investment in infrastructure across various sectors including transport, health, housing, education, energy, electric vehicles, water, waste management and maritime.
  
  
• The Government will continue to:
  
  
  • support InterTrade Ireland in helping SME businesses to identify and pursue public procurement opportunities across the island of Ireland;
    
    
  • ensure the Office of Public Works (OPW) and its structures deliver best value for money outcomes on all projects;
    
    
  • ensure the Office of Government Procurement plays a leadership role in embedding green public procurement across the public sector, including through setting minimum mandatory green public procurement criteria and ensuring compulsory reporting to monitor progress.

•  There will be a review the public procurement process to make it more transparent and work to ensure greater participation from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland in the procurement process.
  
  
• A review of the National Development Plan will be completed in July 2025 to ensure there is a sustainable pipeline of projects. It is envisaged that that there will be increased capital investment in infrastructure and health digitalisation.
  
  
• A National Housing Procurement Strategy will be introduced to support housing standardisation and use state spending and regulatory powers to reduce costs delays.
  
  
• A dedicated Infrastructure Division will be created in a re-named Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation to advise Government on strategic project selection and prioritisation and to regularly review progress of projects.
  
  
• A Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, chaired by the Taoiseach, will be created to drive infrastructural delivery, accountability and value for money.
  
  
• The Infrastructure Guidelines will be reviewed and a Public Investment Act will be introduced, requiring sponsoring agencies to meet timelines on development of project appraisals and other evaluations so as to reduce delays in decision making and embed value for money across capital projects.
  
  
• The remit of the National Development Finance Agency in the National Treasury Management Agency will be broadened to provide expert advice for major infrastructure delivery.
  
  
• Efforts will be made to expedite delivery of project assessments, appraisals, business cases and other stages of the approvals process with a view to aiding quicker decision making.

For further information on public procurement and Ireland’s capital investment programme, please contact us at Eversheds Sutherland.