§ Mr. McAllionTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list all those services or functions that have been contracted out from his734W Department since November 1991 without market testing an in-house bid against external competition, with, in each instance, the successful contractor and the reasons for the decision to exclude an in-house bid.
§ Mr. MatesThe services or functions contracted out from Northern Ireland Departments since November 1991 without market testing an in-house bid against external competition were:
Department of Health and Social Services
The Child Support Agency contracted out keyholding, catering and cleaning services in August 1992, October 1992 and August 1993 respectively in preparation for the launch of the agency. There was no in-house bid as these are new services and were contracted out in line with the White Paper "Competing for Quality: Buying Better Services".Department of Economic Development
The facilities management of the Training and Employment Agency's computer systems for Transit, Training Centre Administration and MIS interface was contracted out in September/October 1992. The computer installation was damaged in the explosion at the Forensic Science Laboratories at Belfast and the tight timescale in restoring a full transit service from a contingency site precluded the necessary effort in mounting an in-house bid. Investment appraisal indicated that contractors would be able to find economies of scale which would not be matched in-house. There would also have been substantial additional costs attached to an in-house bid as the computer site had been seriously damaged in the explosion and would have required extensive and expensive refurbishing.In the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland I would not wish to disclose the names of successful contractors.