20 May 2022

The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) has today published details of the Inflation/Supply Chain Delay Co-operation Framework Agreement (‘the Agreement). The publication follows the announcement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath T.D. on the 10 May 2022 of new measures to address the risk posed by exceptional inflation and supply chain disruption on projects being delivered under the public works contract.

These measures represent an appropriate and balanced set of provisions to address the impact of global events which are outside the control of either party to the contract, are uncertain in both their duration and impact and therefore place the successful completion of a project at risk.

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1 March 2022

A new guidance note, GN 2.3.4 Tender Price Indexation – Calculation, Notification and Application has been published today which provides detailed information to contracting authorities on the calculation, notification and application of the tender price indexation which has been introduced into the template forms for use with the public works contract forms PW-CF1 – PW-CF6 inclusive and which were published on 7 January  2022.

17 February 2022

Further to the news item of 9 February 2022, the OGP today has published a model form of letter that may be used by Contractors/Specialists in relation to temporary Professional Indemnity Insurance arrangements.

Where, as a result of the current insurance market conditions, during the term of a contract or a collateral warranty, a Contractor/Specialist cannot provide professional indemnity insurance on an each and every claim basis at the required level, the letter sets out the conditions that will permit the Employer to accept temporary alternative insurance arrangements, and which are subject to review on an annual basis. MF 1.29 Letter re Temporary PII Arrangements (in Pillar 1, Public Works Contracts) is provided for Contractors/Specialists.

09 February 2022

The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) has today published Circular 05/2022: Construction Procurement Reform – Revised Guidelines for Professional Indemnity Insurance Levels in Public Works Projects and amendments to the Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF) to address risks caused to the procurement and delivery of capital works projects by on-going capacity constraints in the professional insurance indemnity (PII) market. This first tranche of amendments relates primarily to the procurement of Consultants.

The amendments, summarised below, also incorporate substantial changes to the suitability assessment questionnaires for consultants (QC1 & QC2) and a range of associated documents.  These changes are aimed at reducing the extent of documentation to be provided by applicants in a procurement process, to better facilitate digital submission and to clarify the process for applicants who are reliant on the capacity of others to meet pre-qualification criteria.

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07 January 2022

The Office of Government Procurement has today published a suite of interim amendments to the Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF) to address the risk of price inflation to construction materials in public works contracts.  The amendments, which are summarised below, are those interim amendments (‘the amendments’) that are described in Section 3 of the Guidance on public works tenders with respect to construction material price inflation (“the Guidance”), as published by the Office of Government Procurement on 24 November 2021 and should be read in conjunction with the Guidance.

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