The procurement process for public sector contracts is expected to speed up, under proposals unveiled by the Northern Ireland Finance Minister today.

Nigel Dodds said he has instructed officials to work on shortening the lag time between procuring a project and awarding it to a 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.

-- Advertisement --

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.

Mr 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."

(PR/BMcC)