Overview of the NRA PPP Roads Procurement Procedure

The PPP Contracts were advertised and awarded under the negotiated procedure applicable to Public Works Contracts under the EC Works Directive (93/37/EEC as amended).  The indicative procedure followed in the procurement process is outlined below.

The formal pre-qualification process commences with a Contract Notice dispatched for publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities ("OJEC") along with being published in the national press.  Additional information is provided to interested parties in an Information Memorandum and Pre-qualification Document.  A two stage pre-qualification procedure is used, the first involving a pass/fail evaluation against stated minimum criteria, and the second involving the completion and evaluation of a questionnaire.  The entire pre-qualification procedure, including evaluation and short-listing, generally takes four months.  The Authority's standard practice to date was to invite four candidates (the "Tenderers") to negotiate on each scheme.  In the case of the M7/M8 Portlaoise Scheme and also the M50 Upgrade PPP Scheme five tenders were shortlisted.

Competitive Dialogue

In 2006 a new EU procurement directive was transposed into Irish law.  This directive provides for the use of the Competitive Dialogue process for future PPP competitions.