The recent update to the Public Spending Code (PSC) includes significant changes designed to reduce the administrative burden while improving on assurance capabilities when delivering major capital projects. Paul O’Neill of our Corporate Finance team details a summary of the key guideline changes.
We had input our views to the review based on our experience of supporting clients with many projects under the PSC. We welcome these changes and look forward to supporting our clients implementing them.
PSC changes at a glance
- New Infrastructure Guidelines will be published shortly to replace the PSC. The effect of this will be to reduce the number of approval stages prior to implementation of projects from five to three (including changes proposed to the requirement for a Strategic Assessment Report).
- The threshold for major projects requiring Government approval has increased from €100m to €200m. This will allow for projects below this limit to proceed more speedily through the appraisal and evaluation process compared to those of greater scale and complexity.
- The External Review and Major Project Advisory Group review will remain a requirement for major projects (those greater than €200 million) at the Preliminary Business Case stage, prior to seeking Government consent.
- Government consent will only be required at Decision Gate 1 (Preliminary Business Case) and Decision Gate 3 (Final Business Case) for major projects i.e., >€200m.
- The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform will take a direct role in overseeing delivery of the National Development Plan.
- Direct reporting to Government on the delivery of the National Development Plan will take place quarterly throughout 2023 and 2024.
- An independent evaluation of National Development Plan priorities and capacity will be conducted over the coming months.
- Further reforms to the Capital Works Management Framework are to take place, following the recent introduction of liability caps and the changes in procurement policy including:
- An increase to the threshold at which all contracts for goods and services must be advertised on eTenders from €25,000 to €50,000 (exclusive of VAT); and
- An increase to the threshold at which all contracts for works must be advertised on eTenders from €50,000 to €200,000 (exclusive of VAT).
Get in touch
Should you wish to discuss these updates to the Public Spending Code in more detail please get in touch with any member of our Corporate Finance team. We'd be delighted to hear from you.
Paul O'Neill
Managing Director
KPMG in Ireland
Michele Connolly
Partner, Head of Corporate Finance, Head of Infrastructure
KPMG in Ireland
