NEW methods of tendering for public contracts and tighter control of the planning system, aimed at eradicating delays, are among a series of sweeping changes proposed by a review of the construction industry.
The review, which contains 90 recommendations, also forecasts that the current boom in the industry will continue until the year 2000, but urges contractors and consultants to diversify into export markets.
The review of the industry was jointly commissioned and funded by the Construction Industry Council and the Department of the Environment. The committee comprised representatives of various sectors of the industry and was chaired by Mr Tony Barry, CRH chairman.
The review recommends that contracts for all public sector contracts exceeding £1 million and all complex projects should be placed by a two stage selective tendering process. This would entail advertising the project in the press and inviting competent contractors to seek prequalification.
Following this, up to eight prequalified contractors would be invited to submit tenders. Currently, in most cases the cheapest contract is accepted, but the margin for the contractor is very small.
There have been instances where contractors then try to make improvements to the margins through altering the specifications or arguing about elements of the contract. This sometimes leads to legal action. The Department of the Environment said yesterday that the recommendation - which the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has urged for several years - is designed to take the conflict out of such contracts.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, said yesterday that currently too many construction firms tender for projects and go to great expense, although ultimately they do not have a chance of getting them.
In the case of design and build projects it recommends that not more than four prequalified consortia should be invited to submit detailed bids. "Again, that cuts down very extensively on the investment each consortia has to make," said Mr Howlin.
Department of the Environment officials, said the system was not designed to cut out certain contractors from the tendering process, but to encourage them to tender for the elements of projects at which they would be most competent.
The review also recommends that there should be a proper registration system for contractors and consultants involved in the industry. "We believe the construction industry should be made more transparent and regulated," said Mr Tony Barry, adding that subcontracting had become a major feature of the industry and it was important that people on both sides - clients and contractors - were treated properly.
A forum will be set up next month to oversee the implementation of the recommendations and to adjust them where necessary. Mr Howlin stressed that they were not finite.
The review was welcomed by the CIF which said they were significant issues and it would be looking to the new Government for a positive approach to the recommendations to maximise the industry's potential in terms of "volumes, efficiency and profitability."
