OPW pulls tender for €600k PR contract only hours after advertising it
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The State agency embroiled in controversy concerning the taxpayers’ spend of €336,000 on a bike shelter for Leinster House has pulled a tender process for a new €600,000 PR contract - only hours after advertising it.
As part of the contract bidding process, the Office of Public Works (OPW) asked potential PR firms to outline ways to improve its “public profile and reputation”.
This week, the chairman of the OPW, John Conlon, faced a grilling from politicians at the Oireachtas finance committee on the bike shelter spend where he revealed the €1.4m spend on the new security checkpoint on Merrion Street Upper.
Less than 24 hours later, the OPW placed a notice on the e-tenders website inviting organisations “to submit proposals for advising and supporting the OPW’s communications, digital communications and public relations (PR) work”.
The duration of the contract was to be for three years and the tender documentation stated the estimated spend was between €400,000 and €600,000.
The tender advised that “tenderers must understand that this figure is an estimate only based on current and future expected use”.
The OPW told bidders to address four items and one is “to outline the opportunities and challenges facing the OPW with respect to its public profile and reputation”.
The documentation stated that “this should demonstrate an understanding of the OPW’s current operating environment, its remit, Government policy, key messages and complexity of its role”.
The contract included “strengthening the brand and reputational management for the OPW” and is for communications advice, public relations and digital media support.
However, in response to a press query on the new contract, the OPW press office confirmed shortly after 6.30pm on Thursday evening that the OPW "is not proceeding with the communications request For tender (RFT) and is reviewing its communication support requirements”.
No reason was provided by the OPW in the statement for the u-turn on the tender process for the PR contract.
On Wednesday, Mr Conlon admitted the OPW must “seriously reflect” on the circumstances which saw it pay an “extraordinary” €336,000 for a bike shelter on the grounds of Leinster House, He said that the cost of delivering the bike rack, which provides just 18 bicycle spaces, “is completely not acceptable” in the context of value for money for the taxpayer.
“It was a very expensive shelter, but it was procured in a way that was competitive,” Mr Conlon said.
He said the project’s “design and conservation” had driven the heightened costs.
He said that on foot of the OPW’s probe into the shed’s construction, which was signed off by just one principal officer within the body, the threshold for such expenditure governance has been reduced to €200,000 from €500,000.
In relation to a security hut at the entrance to Government Buildings that cost more than €1.4m, Mr Conlon said he would have asked for the bike shed to be “rescoped” had he been aware of its cost, but said he does not accept the project was a waste of money.
The security shelter had followed “an extensive” security review by gardaí and others, he said.